


Just the two of us

by disownedbytime



Category: Twisted-Wonderland (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Domestic, Cute Kids, Family Issues, Fluff, M/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-07
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:48:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 29,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28001937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/disownedbytime/pseuds/disownedbytime
Summary: Leona is a pro athlete and a single (kind of absent) father. Vil is a model and a single (kind of overwhelming) father. After their kids have a fight at school, they meet. And so, their lives become intertwined.
Relationships: Leona Kingscholar/Vil Schoenheit, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Rook Hunt/Ruggie Bucchi, Trey Clover/Cater Diamond
Comments: 17
Kudos: 111





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> English is not my first language so I'm sorry for any mistakes! Updates may not come fast as I have another multi chapter fic going plus my regular life, but I'll try my best.
> 
> Also I feel I should add a disclaimer: the dads aren’t exactly good parents at the beginning, of course I don’t condone those actions, but hey, parenthood is hard, they’ll get better. That’s what this is about.

“You gotta be kidding me.” He said to the woman on the other side of the phone.

_“No, Mr. Kingscholar, this is not a joke. Jack had a fight with another student so you need to come to the school right now.”_ The woman said with a firm tone.

“I’m in the middle of practice, I can’t go.” He said trying to dismiss the woman’s words.

_“Mr. Kingscholar, this is a serious matter, I know Jack is usually a good kid, but that doesn’t change the fact that he was fighting with another student, so you need to come here so we can talk about it. The parents of the other student are on their way too, so I advice you to be here in time.”_ The woman ended her speech and hanged up.

Leona sighed –the woman was right, even though Jack could have a bad temper some times, he was usually a good kid who didn’t get into fights unless it was something important, so this was probably a serious matter. Being the pro athlete he was, he had no problem with missing practice once or twice, but he’d rather not do it, he preferred to leave those occasions to do something better. In any case, after speaking to his coach, he hopped into his car and left to the preschool.

The school –which was apparently one of the best in the district– wasn’t near his workplace, but he did his best to arrive as fast as possible; the sooner he could deal with it the better. Jack had never had a fight at school, so he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do or what should he tell the other kid’s parents. He parked close and walked to the school expecting it to be over soon, but not being too optimistic about it.

As he went inside the principal’s office he saw Jack sitting on a couch in the back of the office. A middle aged woman –who he guessed was the one who called him– and another kid –one that was so tiny he almost missed– were there too. The kid looked like she was about to cry, but otherwise seemed unharmed which made Leona sigh in relief. He couldn’t believe Jack had a fight with a girl so small.

“Mr. Kingscholar, nice to see you here. Epel’s parents haven’t arrived so let’s wait before we start.” The woman said acknowledging Leona’s presence in the room.

Leona nodded and went to sit next to Jack, who didn’t even raise his eyes to look at him. 

* * *

Vil got in the car, angrily smashing the door shut. He couldn’t believe Epel had to do this when he was so busy, it seemed like he always choose the worst times to act up; Vil believed it was an act of rebelliousness and wanting attention –which he could understand since Epel was still a kid– but it still frustrated him a lot. He already could imagine what had happened. He speed up, if he could just got over the issue fast he could come back to finish his job.

* * *

They waited 15 minutes in silence, no signs of Epel’s parents coming.

“Are you sure the kid’s parents are coming?” Leona asked exasperatedly. If he knew the others weren’t coming then he could still be at practice.

“Y-yes, that’s what they told me, I’m sure they will be here soon.” The woman hesitated. She turned to the small kid and asked, “Epel, do you think your parents are coming soon?”

The kid nodded slightly and muttered something unintelligible, Leona could only understand the words “busy” and “session.”

The woman decided to wait five more minutes before calling again, but Leona knew he was leaving if they didn’t arrive in those five minutes. For better or worse, someone opened the door before the time was up.

* * *

“Mrs. Nonet? I’m sorry for being late, I was in the middle of a photoshoot and couldn’t leave sooner.” Vil went inside the office he already knew too well and, even though he was fuming, spoke to the principal in a calm manner. He saw Epel sitting in a chair, and when the boy didn’t even turn to look at him he knew his assumptions were right. 

“You weren’t the only one who was busy, but at least I arrived on time.”

Vil turned to see where the voice came from. In the back, sitting in a couch was a man with a kid. The man was wearing dirty pants with a fitted t-shirt and sneakers, an outfit he’s seen so many times at the gym, however due the disheveled state of the man, he was sure the guy used it to sleep instead. His face was a different thing though; his beautiful, bright green eyes gleamed as he spoke, they matched so well with his dark skin. He had a scar on one of his eyes, but instead of tarnishing his face, it made him look wild. His long and wavy hair was tied up in a low ponytail from which a pair of feline ears sprouted. If only he dressed better he could pass for a very handsome man. However his remark had been uncalled for, so Vil rolled his eyes at him and turned to the principal instead.

* * *

Leona took a good look at the woman that entered the office moments prior. She was slim, tall and blonde; she was wearing dark pants that outlined her legs perfectly, and a loose, v-neck shirt with a blazer on top. She also had red high heels, a big purse, a sunhat, and sunglasses. Leona was angry that he had to wait a lot, but he wasn’t going to miss the chance to ogle the person in front of him. However when she rolled her eyes at him he figured she wasn’t going to be easy to deal with.

The principal explained that during playtime Epel and Jack had a fist fight in front of other kids. When the teacher asked them to explain what had happened, both kids remained silent and wouldn’t talk about it at all, which is why their parents were called. She remarked that they understood kids were still learning how to deal with their emotions, so they knew arguments were expected to happen, however they couldn’t do anything if they didn’t open up.

Leona watched the blonde woman sighing loudly. She took her hat and sunglasses off and walked towards the small kid. Leona was quickly enticed by her purple, bright eyes that were full of makeup. She was a very good looking woman despite her attitude.

“Epel, what did he say that made you punch him?” She asked kneeling down in front of the kid. Leona was surprised at how direct the question was.

The kid muttered something before her mother made her speak up. “He called me a girl!” The kid almost yelled with tears in her eyes.

Leona became confused for a moment, but he let them continue.

* * *

“Epel, we’ve talked about this before, haven’t we?” Vil said while grabbing Epel by his shoulders. He had been right, Epel hated when he was mistook for a girl, and no matter how many times Vil told him it didn’t matter and explained how to deal with it, the kid still got into fights every time. He understood it was important for the boy, but it had happen too many times, so Vil was tired already.

“But! I told him I was a boy! And when I punched him he called me a girl again and said he doesn’t hit girls!” Epel cried.

“Did you tell him you were a boy before or after hitting him?” Vil inquired, not being able to hide much his annoyance now.

Epel lowered his eyes and muttered softly. “At the same time.”

Vil sighed. “Epel, don’t you remember our conversation? What you’re supposed to do if you’re at school and someone calls you a girl.” Vil said and smiled. Epel knew well that it wasn’t a smile of happiness though.

The kid kept his eyes down, and after some seconds of silence he finally spoke. “Tell them nicely that I’m a boy and if they don’t believe me I need to tell an adult. And if they don’t stop, you’ll talk to their parents.”

“If you remember then why didn’t you do it?” Vil questioned him but Epel didn’t reply. Vil sighed, thinking that he had to find better methods now. “Did you at least apologize to him?”

Epel shook his head, so Vil grabbed him by his hand –a tad bit too forceful– and walked him to where the man and the kid were sitting.

* * *

Leona saw them approach. The woman knelt down in front of his son and smiled. “Jack, right? I apologize for what Epel did, he shouldn’t have done what he did, but I want you to know it’s nothing against you, he just hates being called a girl, and unfortunately it happens a lot. Do you now know that he’s a boy, right?” He said with such a soft and lovely voice that Leona suddenly forgot the previous incident.

Jack nodded firmly. Leona couldn’t blame him, even he though the boy was a girl at first. Not only because of his physique but also by the way he was dressed.

“Alright, that’s great.” She kept her smile, but seconds later she turned to her own kid and her voice became icy. “Epel, apologize now.”

The kid stepped up and, looking at the ground, he muttered softly. “Sorry.”

“That’s not enough, Epel. Say you won’t do it again.” The woman added with a firm voice. She put her hands on her hips, and Leona thought she looked a bit intimidating.

  
“I’m sorry for punching you, Jack. I won’t do it again, but don’t call me a girl again.” The kid said looking at Jack.

Jack nodded. “I’m sorry for calling you a girl.” He said looking at the kid too.

“Jack, did you punch him too? If you did apologize for that too.” Leona said.

“I pushed him, but I felt bad because he still looked like a girl, so I stopped–” Jack’s words were cut short by Epel’s voice.

“I’m not!” He yelled.

“I know, I’m sorry.” Jack apologized again. “Sorry for pushing you.”

“But! I am a boy, so you can punch me!” Epel pouted.

“No, Epel, he won’t punch you even though you’re a boy. Neither of you will be punching each other, okay?” The woman facepalmed. Leona felt slightly bad for her.

“Alright, so we’re done now?” Leona asked the principal who had remained silent for the whole interaction.

“Yes, I think we’re done now that it got resolved, unless you have any question.” Seeing both parents shook their head, she continued. “I’ll just remind you that even though we understand, we also cannot accept such behaviour, so I hope you’ll speak with your kids in private and explain why this isn’t acceptable. Now I still need you to sign some things, so please wait.”

* * *

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Nonnet, I know this isn’t the first time Epel does this, but I’ll definitely speak with him so it won’t happen ever again.” Vil spoke to the woman. He _knew_ it was going to happen again, he’d tried so many times to make Epel stop, but the kid was stubborn.

“Yes, here in his expedient I see it happened three weeks ago too.” The principal said while looking at some papers in front of her. “Ah, but last time it was your husband who came here, wasn’t he available today?”

Vil pressed his lips together for a moment and then spoke calmly. “I’m afraid you are mistaken, Mrs. Nonet, I don’t have a husband, it’s just Epel and me.”

_‘Great, now you rub salt on the wound.’_ Vil thought to himself.

“Oh but the note is signed by Mr. Schoenheit, isn’t he Epel’s dad?” She asked innocently. Vil couldn’t blame her though.

“I am Epel’s dad, I’m Mr. Schoenheit, Vil Schoenheit. That’s my signature and it was me who came last time.” He said forcing a smile.

It took a few seconds for the woman to understand and when she did, she apologized profusely. He really couldn’t blame her for thinking he was a woman, his main attributes were his beauty and his androgynous look, so things like these happened often. Epel had inherited such attributes too. It wasn’t a big deal for Vil –he even embraced it– but it was for Epel and that was why he got into fights often. He really hoped Epel would grow to accept it too. He heard the man behind him sneer, but when he looked back he only saw Epel frowning. Before he could say anything else the principal left to bring some missing papers, apologizing again for her mistake.

* * *

After learning that the person he’d been ogling was in fact a man, he opted to do it again. He was definitely a beauty, he wasn’t mistaken on that part.   


“Papa, why didn’t you get mad when she called you a girl?” The small boy asked with a frown on his face.

The man looked down at the kid and raising his eyebrow, he replied. “Because I’m not you, I don’t mind it because I know how we look. I told you you’ll learn not to mind either.”

Epel rolled his eyes and turned away. Leona remembered the man doing the same gesture before and realized how similar the two of them were. It was natural since they were father and son, but in his case, Jack wasn’t that similar to him.

“I’ve told you many times not to roll you eyes. And I’m serious, one day you’ll realize our beauty is like no other and you’ll learn to appreciate it.” The man added, and this time it was Leona’s turn to roll his eyes.

Thankfully for him the principal came back at that moment.

“Alright, I just need your signatures in the expedient and in this other form, then you’re free to go.” She said as she handed them a pen and two sheets each. “Epel, Jack I’ll go bring your bags in a minute.”

Both parents stopped signing the papers and looked at the woman.

“Their bags? Why? Do you need them for something?” Leona asked, he knew it was a stupid question but he didn’t want to believe what is gut was telling him.

“You’re taking them home, they’re dismissed for the day.” The woman said as if it was obvious.

“Why? Last time Epel stayed here. I can’t take him home.” The blond man frowned.

“It happened in the middle of recess and all the other kids saw, so to avoid any complain from parents we’ll have to ask you to take them with you.” The woman explained. “Now if you excuse me, I’ll go to their classrooms and bring their bags.”

“No, wait, I’m serious, I can’t take him home.” The man said trying to stop the woman, but she didn’t listen and left the room.

“Papa, I don’t want to go to your work.” Epel said when the woman left the room. “It’s so boring.”

“And I won’t take you there, I’m too busy today to be watching you.” The man said with an annoyed tone. He thought for a few seconds before speaking again. “I’ll call Rook.”

The man took out his smartphone and dialled a number, then moments later he started speaking loudly, much to Leona’s annoyance.

_“Rook, I need you to watch Epel today, right now. Yes, we’re fine, he’s dismissed from class today and I’m busy. Lilia was picking him up this afternoon but I can’t just drop him over there right now, so– What? Come again? You have a boyfriend? Since when? Three weeks? When were you going to tell me? I saw you yesterday. No, look, whatever, we’ll talk about that later. If you can’t watch him, I’ll think about something else, I’ll call Cater or something. No. I’ll be busy the whole day, you know why. Really? Okay. It has to be right now, or I’ll be late. Look, I’ll just drop him at your house, just message me the address later and I’ll pick him up there. Yeah, whatever. I still can’t believe you didn’t tell me before. No, like I said, I don’t care, but I think that’s something you should’ve told me sooner. Okay, sure. Yeah, yeah. Bye, I’ll be there soon.”_

The man finished his call and sighed loudly, annoyance plastered in his face.

_‘That sounded like an ex. I definitely wouldn’t want to be in that position.’_ Leona thought to himself.

“Dad, are you taking me to practice?” His thoughts were interrupted by Jack’s voice.

Leona thought for a few seconds. Jack didn’t like going to practice too much lately, he used to love it before, but recently he kept complaining about being bored. “No, I’ll take you with Ruggie.” He said and patted his son’s head.

He wasn’t sure if the man was available, but he never said no to taking care of the kid.

The woman came back with two school bags and two lunchboxes, the pair which belonged to Jack were black and gray school bag with the logo of his magift team and a lunchbox with a wolf in it. The other bags, he guessed, belonged to Epel, they both were pink and had cartoon rainbows and peacocks in them. When he saw them Leona raised his eyebrow whichdidn’t go unnoticed by the other man.

“Just show these to the guard and he’ll let you go.” The woman said giving each a slip of paper. “And I hope to see you tomorrow with a better attitude, okay?” She finished with a sentence that they weren’t sure if it was for the kids or the parents.

* * *

With one hand Vil grabbed Epel’s lunchbox and with the other he grabbed Epel’s hand, howeverwhile they walked towards the school gates, the kid wriggled out of his grip. Not wanting to deal with a tantrum, Vil let it go and walked faster, hoping for Epel to catch up. The other man and his kid walked a few steps behind them.

“I like your bag, Jack.” Epel said softly behind him. Realizing the kid was going to walk together with his classmate and not catch up to him soon, he slowed down.

“Yours is pretty.” Jack said, looking at the bag.

“It’s not. It’s pink.” Epel replied with a pout.

“I like the birds.” He added.

“They’re peacocks. Papa likes them.”

Vil heard a sneer behind him and instantly knew it came from the other man. He stopped until he was next to him to continue walking.

“Do you have a problem with my kid’s bags? It seems like you care too much about them.” He said, only looking at him through the corner of his eye.

“I don’t care about them.” The man replied without looking at him. “But those girly bags aren’t helping him.”

“Excuse me? Those are from a famous designer brand, not just girly bags. Anyone would want them.” Vil was astonished by the audacity of the man. ‘ _Who does he think he is? And who does he think I am?’_

“Anyone? Not even he likes them.” The man said.

“He does.” Vil frowned.

“I don’t.” Epel murmured almost inaudible from behind. The man grinned.

“He’s just acting up right now. He’s okay with his bags, thank you for your input.” Vil said dismissing the argument.

“Just get him something he likes instead of what you like.” The man didn’t take the cue and continued talking.

“I’m telling you he likes it. He likes peacocks and rainbows.” Vil said.

“I like magift and wolves.” Epel said again in the same soft tone.

_‘Is he doing this on purpose?’_ Vil turned around and glared at his kid, feeling like he was about to lose his temper. 

“You don’t like wolves, you are afraid of dogs and anything that looks like them. And you don’t even watch sports.” Vil exasperatedly explained. It really wasn’t a lie. They didn’t have any pets –Vil would never allow that– but Epel always got scared at the sight of big animals. He wasn’t allowed to watch sports either, they were too violent in Vil’s opinion.

Epel muttered something else but it fell deaf on Vil’s ears.

“Worry about your kid and leave mine alone, okay? Instead of getting him things appropriate for his age you get him that... whatever team that is... bag.” Vil said, this time looking at the man next to him.

“What are you talking about?” The man turned to look at him too with a scowl on his face. “Magift is appropriate for kids.”

“It’s unnecessary violence.” Vil replied in a calmer tone now that the other topic was behind.

“It doesn’t even have physical contact between players, it’s all magic.” The man added in a defensive tone.

_‘Great, he’s a sports weirdo. Not surprising.’_

* * *

_‘What is he talking about? His yelling seems more violent that any match I’ve been in.’_

“Look, I won’t deny the magic and movements they use look beautiful, and sometimes even elegant, I can respect that; but it’s still violence which is not suitable for kids.”

Leona rolled his eyes but that didn’t stop him from replying. “I agree. For someone like you it’s probably too violent anyway.”

“Someone like me?” The man gave him a inquiring –and somewhat offended– look.

“You’re too frail, too skinny, you wouldn’t last five minutes in a match.” Leona grinned.

“Excuse me, I exercise everyday, I even have a personal trainer.” He replied.

Leona looked at the man from head to toe. “For what? Yoga?”

“Of course I do yoga, but he’s not just for that.” Leona raised his eyebrow, so the man continued talking. “A regular routine to be in shape, muscle training, and also for flexibility, for endurance and to keep track of my nutrition.”

Leona rolled his eyes internally. ‘ _He’s one of those, it wouldn’t surprise me if he is an influencer or any of those dumb things.’_

“If you weren’t so annoying I wouldn’t mind testing that flexibility or endurance you speak of.” He said nonchalantly.

The man stopped walking completely, so Leona turned his head to watch him. His pupils widened and his mouth was slightly open, but surprisingly he didn’t say a word. Just as he was about to react, the children’s voices were heard.

Leona turned around to see Jack carrying the pink, ‘designer’ backpack and Epel carrying the black magift backpack, both with smiles on their faces.

“Epel, give Jack his bag back and get yours too, you’re not trading them.” The man firmly ordered the kids.

Epel whined and began protesting saying that he wanted that one; on the other hand Jack did as he was told and tried to give back the bag, but Epel wasn’t having it. Leona decided to let the man deal with it; after all it was his kid who was causing the commotion.

He yawned, being there made him tired. He considered taking Jack home, not going to practice, and just sleep the whole day, but he had an important game coming in a few weeks, so he knew he had to go back.

He looked around and noticed they were already outside the school grounds; at some point they must have passed the guard but they were so absorbed in their argument that they missed him. They were in front of his car, a yellow sports car which he was proud of. He called Jack to tell him they were leaving, but before he could speak he saw with amusement the scene in front of him: the man was carrying a crying child with one arm while holding the two school bags and his own bag in the other while Jack held the man’s hat and was trying to give it back.

“Need help?” Leona asked, though his tone showed he was making fun of him instead of offering actual assistance.

The man grabbed the hat from Jack, gave him his schoolbag and turned to him. “No, thank you.” He went quiet for a moments as he looked at him from head to toe with a disgusted expression. “It’s seems like your looks are really the only redeemable thing about you.”

He turned around and walked away, only to stop a few meters away in front of the car next to Leona’s, a deep blue car that seemed as expensive as his own.

_‘Guess even an influencer can make enough money for one.’   
_


	2. Chapter 2

His day had been hectic. First, the call from Epel’s school and having to deal with that man, then he had to take Epel to Rook’s house. Just then he was able to go back to work, but because he had wasted a lot of time he had to rush and ended up missing some important things. Before going to Epel’s school he had a shooting for a magazine. He was supposed to do an interview too, but he had to postpone it. The journalist and his manager weren’t happy about it, but after explaining –and embellishing– his son’s situation they understood and agreed to leave it for another day. After that, he had to practice one last time, go to a last costume fitting and an overall dress rehearsal, which took the whole day. So now, it was already past 8pm and he was just in route to pick up Epel.

Rook texted him his boyfriend’s address beforehand. It was a bit far from his workplace but it was closer to his house than Rook’s own house, which he appreciated, at least it wouldn’t take too long to go back home. Epel’s bedtime was at 8pm, but whenever his job demanded it, he’d have to move it to 9pm. Never past that time though, or else Epel would get moody. He still had another 10 or 15 minutes of trajectory to the house and then he had to get home, feed Epel, check if he did his homework correctly, bathe him and finally put him to sleep. And that was if he didn't end up staying long at this ‘boyfriend’s’ house; as Rook’s long time best friend he supposed he had to meet the guy, and knowing how Rook couldn’t make any meeting short, he’d probably stay for at least an hour. All of this a day before his show. At least it wasn’t a big show, but he couldn’t half ass any of his jobs.

He sighed, it was going to be a long night and a long day tomorrow.

He drove in silence checking his phone often for messages and so he wouldn’t miss any turn on the way, and finally, ten minutes later he arrived to his destination. The house seemed small, old and not fancy at all, but it had a huge garden with a lot of herbs and vegetables which made Vil a bit jealous, how he wished he had the time to care for a garden again. He parked at the end of the garden and walked towards the door while he texted Rook. He stood in front of the door, not knocking yet, waiting for the message to send. Moments later he felt someone by his side at the same time he heard a familiar voice.

* * *

“What the hell are you doing here?” Leona asked exasperatedly, startling the man in front of him and making him jump slightly. He couldn’t believe he had to see the same annoying man twice a day.

The blond man turned around to see him. “What are you doing here?” He asked clutching his cellphone with his hand.

“That’s what I just asked, why are you at this place?” Leona asked again, walking forwards towards the door.

The other man went quiet for a few seconds, pondering about the situation. “Is this your house?” He finally asked, his eyes as big as plates.

“What? No. I’m here to pick up Jack.” Leona said, perplexed by the conclusion of the other man while he still wondered why he was there.

The man looked around, a confused look in his eyes. “I’m here to pick up Epel, why is Jack here?”

“What? Do you even know–?” Leona’s question got cut short when someone opened the door, but to his surprise it wasn’t who he was hoping to see, instead another blond man stood there.

“Vil! You’re finally here!” The strange man said. “Come inside.”

Vil looked relieved and walked inside, chatting away with the other man.

Leona was dumbfounded. “Wait, who are you and where is Ruggie?” He asked, following the two men inside the house.

“Ah! You’re here too! Ruggie is in the backyard with the kids.” The man explained even though that didn’t explain anything at all.

* * *

‘ _Why is he here? Is he following me?_ ’ Vil couldn’t stop his mind from asking again and again, until Rook opened the door, and yet he still didn’t understand.

“Rook, it’s already late, where is Epel?” He asked his friend as he motioned him to enter the living room.

“Oui, let me call him.” Rook left the room, leaving both men standing awkwardly in such a tense atmosphere. Neither of them spoke, they just looked everywhere but each other. The silence broke when Rook yelled in the distance.

“Mon amour, they’re both here to pick up the kids.”

Hearing Rook call someone other than him by a pet name surprised Vill, but it was expected since that man was supposed to be his boyfriend. In all the years Vil had known him, Rook had had many crushes, yet he had never dated anyone.

Moments later a man entered the living room holding Epel and Jack on each hand. The man was shorter than even Rook, he was blond and had some kind of animal ears –which definitely didn’t surprise Vil–.

“Leona, you’re late.” He said referring to the dark skinned man in the room. ‘ _Leona? Is that his name?’_ He didn’t even remember if he heard it during their morning meeting. “Ah, you must be Vil. Rook spoke a lot about you.” The man then said looking at him.

“Yes, I’m Vil Schoenheit. I guess you must be Rook’s boyfriend? I wish I could say the same, but Rook only told me about you this morning, I don’t even know your name.” He stretched out his hand to Ruggie.

“I’m Ruggie Bucchi. Nice to meet ya.” Ruggie said accepting the greeting and letting go of the kid’s hands. He then sheepishly turned to Leona and spoke again. “Leona, this is my boyfriend Rook.”

“Since when you have a boyfriend?” Leona asked, half surprised, half annoyed.

“We’ve been dating for three weeks, though we met a bit over a month ago.” Ruggie explained.

“Oh my, but Leona, we’ve met already!” Rook said, walking towards the man and standing a bit too close to him.

Vil saw how Leona squinted his eyes as if thinking about what he had just heard. “Wait a minute. Aren’t you that weirdo who kept trespassing the field and terrorizing half the players?”

“Ah, oui, but it wasn’t trespassing, you see...” Rook began explaining something Vil couldn’t understand, yet he had an idea of what had happened.

He sighed and facepalmed. This was so much like Rook, he was a good man but his habits were questionable at best.

“Rook.” He said as the three men looked at him. “Again? How many times I’ve told you, stop stalking the people you get an interest in. You know you’re already banned in several places, we can’t even go to the park near your house anymore.” He looked at the two beast people with a sincere look. “Look, I’m sorry, he’s not a bad guy but he’s passionate with his interests and–”

“Non, non, Vil, I wasn’t stalking them. I really had a job there, I merely wanted to see them in their natural state without them knowing I was looking at them.” Rook excused himself, even though Vil knew better.

“Without them knowing? You had half of our team scared to even go practice, not to mention we had to cancel two games because not even the opposing teams wanted to come.” Leona complained, anger spilling in his words. He turned to Ruggie. “And you are dating him?”

_‘Practice? Games?’_

Ruggie scratched the back of his neck. “Well, I was the one sent to talk to him, I just happened to get to know him more and realized he wasn’t a bad guy, and here we are, a month later.”

Both Vil and Leona looked at him with something akin to pity in their eyes. Vil was the first one to speak. “Rook, did you do anything to him? Brainwashing magic? Love spell?”

“Vil!” Rook began explaining how he only had good intentions and could never do anything like that to him. Vil knew he was mostly right, Rook always did things in good faith, but he still couldn’t believe someone could fall for him after being stalked.

“Papa! Ruggie has a lot of apples!” Vil’s concentration was interrupted when his son hugged his legs.

* * *

Epel bit into an apple while he spoke, which made his father frown. “Epel, why are you snacking at this time? You should be in bed now. And where did you get that?”

Epel mirrored his expression. “You are late! And I told you, Ruggie has a lot of apples.”

“You can’t just grab food because you want it.” Vil said and took the apple from the kid, which made him pout even more.

“Don’t worry, I gave it to him. I have a lot of apple trees in the back.” Ruggie said with an apologetic gesture.

Vil hummed as he played with the apple in his hand. “It’s still too late, you won’t want dinner now.”

“Don’t worry, Vil. I already fed him.” Rook said. “He did his homework, ate dinner and even had a bath, he’s ready for bed so you don’t have to worry at all.”

Vil turned to him and raised an eyebrow. “What did you give him for dinner? And did you prepare it yourself?”

Rook hesitated before speaking again. “He ate a slice of grilled beef with cured pork served with tomato sauce and vegetables as garnish. It was pretty good if I say so myself, but it wasn’t made by me, it was Ruggie’s creation. He works as a cook, so don’t worry he knew what he was doing and everything was cooked in a safe way.” He finished his speech with a smile.

Leona turned to Ruggie, not believing his friend had made such a thing.

“It was a burger with fries, Jack had it too.” The hyena whispered.

The two blond guys changed the topic of their conversation, first to the kid’s homework and how Vil hoped Epel did it by himself and that Rook didn’t do it for him, and then to the clothes Epel was wearing, some outfit that apparently Rook had in his house.

“Jack did this homework too and I also gave him a bath, but he didn’t have any clean clothes here so I just put his clothes back, hope ya don’t mind.” It wasn’t strange for Jack to do his homework at Ruggie’s since he was always diligent, but he never had a bath there. Leona didn’t mind since that meant less work for him.

_‘I should ask Ruggie to do it more often._ ’

Leona shrugged and went to the kitchen to grab a beer from the fridge. He heard the conversation between the two men continue as he walked back to the living room.

“But he insisted.”

“I know, but you don’t have to do everything he says. I’ll bring more of his clothes next time I go to your house. This outfit is from two seasons ago, he can’t be seen wearing that.”

After listening to the conversation Leona snickered, and both men turned to look at him. Before Vil could speak, Rook interrupted him.

“Oh, let me bring you something to drink, you must be so thirsty and tired.” Rook left the room just like Leona did moments ago. Ruggie was going to go after him but Rook motioned him to stay.

“Rook told me you have a show tomorrow, right?” Ruggie said when he sensed the tension between the other two.

Vil turned to look at the younger man. “Yes, it’s a runway for one of the brands I work for. It’s at a local venue so it’s nothing really big but– Ah thank you, Rook.”

Rook came back as he was talking and handed him a glass of water. “Spring water with three drops of rose water and a slice of lemon at 22°C. Here you go.”

Leona rolled his eyes, but didn’t say anything.  
  


Vil took a sip and continued talking. “It’s nothing really big but certain client will be there and we need to close a deal with him for a bigger show which is going to be in a few weeks, so of course we, or I, have to charm him into agreeing, so it’s still an important show and would you stop judging everything I do?” His last words took Rook and Ruggie by surprise, not realizing they were directed at Leona.

“Hm? What do you mean? Aren’t you just insecure?” Leona grinned and sat down, taking a swig from his beer.

* * *

_‘Such a rude man.’_

Vil followed him and stood in front of him. “What do I mean? First, it was Epel’s bags, then my exercise routine, and now what I drink and Epel clothes. I told you before, right? Worry about your kid, and maybe it would be good if you paid some attention to yourself too, going around in such a deplorable outfit.”

“Excuse me, some of us have to work with outfits that aren’t from this season.”

“See? There you go again. Whatever clothes or bags or anything I choose for Epel is none of your concern.”

“Shouldn’t at least be things that the kid like instead of what you like?”

“Here we go. I told you, he does.”

Leona put his beer down on the coffee table and looked towards Epel who was playing with Jack in a different couch. “Epel, do you like your outfit?”

Epel turned to look at him and then at his dad. “Papa, did you buy this?”

“I did, last year.” Vil answered.

“Then I don’t.” Epel said and went to play again with Jack.

Leona laughed when he saw Vil’s expression turn sour.

“He does, he’s only mad at me because I scolded him today. Right, Epel?”

Epel nodded without looking at them.

“I like them.” Jack, who had been silent all these time, chimed in.

“Why is your kid so much nicer than you?” Vil frowned but seconds later he completely changed his expression to smile at the kid. Leona found it a bit disconcerting. “Thank you Jack.”

“Did you two... know each other already?” Ruggie went to sit down after the argument had stopped, with Rook following behind.

Both men sighed and nodded, but Epel spoke before they could say anything.

“Yes! I punched Jack today so the teacher called them.” Epel said and ran to where Rook and Ruggie were.

“You what?” Rook dumbfoundedly asked the kid.

“It’s okay, it was my fault.” Jack said walking after him.

Rook grabbed Epel and sat him down on his lap. “Ah, little apple, hasn’t your papa has told you many times that you don’t hit people?”

Epel pouted and lowered his eyes. “Don’t scold me, papa already yelled at me a lot today.”

Vil rolled his eyes and begrudgingly sat down next to Leona as there were no more empty seats. Leona, begrudgingly too, moved so he could sit.

* * *

“So that’s why you brought Jack so early? You didn’t mention anything and since Epel said they were in the same class I thought they had all been dismissed early.” Ruggie said to Leona.

“I had to go back quickly to practice, I didn’t want to waste more time.” 

“Practice? Is that why you’re dressed in such outfit?” Vil asked eyeing him again. He then smiled and placed a hand on his chin. It didn’t seem like the smile from before, nor like a real smile, but it was disconcerting nonetheless. “Ah wait, let me guess, something about Magift right?”

“Can you tell? I thought you hated it.”

“I maintain my opinion, but after seeing you defend it so strongly it’s obvious a man like you practice it.”

“You play Magift?!” Epel yelled happily, still sitting on Rook’s lap.

“I do. For the Night Ravens, quarterback.” Leona replied to the kid with a smirk. He loved the expression the kid’s dad had while he did so.

“That’s so cool! That’s so much better than papa’s job!”

“You’re right, playing Magift is better than... what’s what you do? Yoga or... an influencer was it?” Leona asked with a grin, basking in the annoyance of the other man.

“How rude can you be? For your information I’m a professional model and actor, not just a mere influencer. And Epel, you don’t even know what a quarterback is.” Vil said, staring at his kid.

“But it doesn’t sound boring.” Epel said and looked away from his dad.

“I saw you before on TV. And in a poster in a wall in the street.” Jack intervened directing his attention to Vil.

“Where?” Leona asked his kid with a puzzled expression. Jack never lied, yet he couldn’t believe he knew who the man was. He was sure he had never seen him before today. Of course, he wasn’t into fashion or models, but if he claimed to be famous, he should know about him at least, right?

“On TV. It was a perfume commercial.” Jack said.

“Ah, of course, it came out a few weeks ago. They’re one of my sponsors for tomorrow’s show.” Vil proudly said.

“I mean the poster, where did you see it?” Leona ignored the man.

“On the way to school, it’s a really big poster in the big building that looks like a castle. It has Mr. Vil’s face like this.” Jack made a gesture with his hands in his face with a neutral expression, apparently imitating Vil.

Vil laughed, taking Leona by surprise. “You nailed it, Jack. That billboard is for a makeup brand, they’ll be responsible for tomorrow’s make up too.”

“I really haven’t seen anything like that.” He didn’t lie, even if he thought about it, he couldn’t remember seeing it. Maybe it was there as the kid said, but he just didn’t care.

“It’s pretty hard to miss, I’ve seen it too.” Ruggie commented. “Ah, isn’t there another one downtown?”

The three other adults began talking about Vil and some other things that Leona didn’t want to pay attention to, so he stopped listening.  
  


‘ _What a pain, if I knew I was going to finish this day with the same guy as this morning, I’d have taken Jack to work. Or I would’ve just missed work.’_

He was about to go grab another beer when he saw the two kids approach him. He sighed quietly.

“Dad, Epel wants to ask you something.” Jack said and pushed Epel towards him.

Epel looked just like he did this morning, shy and not being able to meet anybody’s eyes, not a trace of the kid who had been arguing with his dad moments ago.

“Do you really play Magift?” He asked looking at the floor.

“I do.” He said. “I am like the leader of the team, the main player.”

Epel finally looked at him with eyes full of wonder. “That’s so cool! Hey, are you going to play in the finals?”

Leona smiled. ‘ _Ha, and he swore the kid didn’t know anything.’_

“I will, I’m training for that game, it’s in a couple of weeks.”

“May 8th! I saw.” The kid yelled, but then put his hand over his mouth, looking at his dad to see if he had heard him.

“I thought your papa doesn’t let you watch it?” Leona whispered back.

Epel brought his finger to his lips and tried to whisper. “Papa doesn’t let me watch TV, but Rook sometimes let me watch the games, but I can’t tell papa.”

Leona sneered. ‘ _Maybe that weirdo is not so bad.’_

“Jack, are you going to the game?” Epel asked looking at the other kid.

Jack nodded. “Yes, I always have to. It’s fun but,” he sighed, “it’s tiring to wait until dad finishes.”

Epel hummed. “But you can watch the players. Papa’s shows are so boring. And I can’t go sit in the seats with everybody, I have to stay behind the curtains. And he doesn't let me go play outside.”

“Why can’t you sit with everybody?” Leona asked. He always got tickets for premium seats in which Jack and Ruggie sat. He figured it should be the same for Vil.

“Papa doesn’t want paparazzi to take pictures of me.” Epel explained and sighed deeply. "They always try and it's annoying."

Leona was surprised, first by the fact that the kid could pronounce such a word, yet he guessed it wasn’t that surprising if he was raised in that environment; and second by the fact that paparazzi was an issue, even though he was sort of a celebrity too, he had never had issues with them –he usually sent them away as soon as he spotted them.

“You should come to the game.” Jack said. “It won’t be boring then.”

Epel’s eyes widened and his mouth hanged open. “Can I?”

“Sure, if your papa is okay with it.” Leona said, knowing well how this was going to turn out.

“Papa!” Epel’s yelling made the other three adults turn around. “Can I go to his game?”

Vil looked at him as if he had spoken in a different language and finally replied with an annoyed voice. “Of course not, why would I let you?”

“Why?” Epel implored and pointed at Leona. “He says I can go!”

Leona sighed, he knew he had caused it, but at the same time he didn’t want to be dragged into this.

Vil glared at him. “He’s not your dad, you’re not going.”

“But why? Jack always go!”

“Jack has no say in that. My answer is no.”

“Papa! Please!”

“Epel, I said no, stop whining or I’ll get angry.”

Epel closed his mouth and started sobbing quietly, then he ran towards Rook and his sobs became a full on crying.

Rook held him as he cried on his legs. “Vil,” he said with a soft and almost pained voice, “let him go.”

Vil raised an eyebrow, almost in disgust. “No. You know what he’s trying to do. No means no, he is not going.”

“But–”

“No. Did you let him watch a game again, Rook?”

“Non, of course not. You asked me not to–”

“Then I don’t see a reason why he’d want to go. It’s such a horrible place to be, I don’t want Epel there.”

_‘What is this guy saying?’_ Leona really didn’t care if the kid went or not, but to have him speak like that made him mad. “Horrible? Have you ever been in a Magift stadium?”

* * *

Vil eyed him with disinterest. “Unfortunately I have. Full of drunk people, fans who can’t understand it’s just a game, fans that are trying to get inside the field, lots unwanted cameras and,” he sighed, “just full of undesirable people.”

“So a show full of paparazzi, to the point your kid has to hide, is better?” Leona spat.

Vil raised an eyebrow. _‘What does he even know?’_ “Yes, way better.”

Epel, who was still crying, spoke in an angry yet sad voice. “It’s not!”

“Vil, we both know why you don’t like going, but let the kid go at least once, he’ll appreciate it. And I’m sure _he_ won’t be there.” Rook said as he petted Epel’s back.

‘ _This is no time to talk about this.’_ Vil tensed. “I don’t care if he’s there, that’s not the issue.” He lied.

“Mr. Vil,” Jack said calmly. “The seats where we stay are not bad. They’re separated so no other people can come in, and we always wait until most people leave.”

“Jack, it’s… it’s not that.” He tried to be gentle, but he didn’t want to sound hesitant.

“Vil, you don’t have to go, I can take him if you want, then I’ll bring him home. I assure you nothing will happen.” Rook pleaded.

“I know he’s safer with you than with anyone else but,” he hesitated, “okay, when it’s the game?” He didn’t want to give in at all, but he was feeling the pressure from his friend.

“May 8th!” Epel suddenly stopped crying and excitedly replied. The quick change in his condition took both Leona and Ruggie by surprise, but Vil and Rook knew the kid’s antics well.

“May 8th? Then no. That’s the day of my show.” Vil frowned, that was his most important show, he couldn’t be worrying about where his kid was when he had more important things to do.

“But Rook said he is taking me, not you.”

“He’s working with me that day so he can’t take you.” Vil frowned. Rook was a photographer and journalist, and this time he was working with Vil in his show.

“And grandpapa?’”

“He’s not in the city, you know that.”

“Then tell Lilia or Cater!”

“Lilia already told me he can’t watch you, and Cater is working in the show too, and you know Trey can’t stay late. Cater is even bringing the kids to the show with him. I guess you won’t be too lonely there.” He smiled wryly. He knew Epel didn’t like accompanying him, but it wasn’t like he had many options left. He was very critical and wary of the people who watched Epel; he had never wanted to hire babysitters, so he relied on his acquaintances; but since most of them worked with him or in jobs that were related to his, he couldn’t do much in these cases.

Epel pouted and went back to cry on Rook’s legs. Vil rolled his eyes. _‘Who’d say he was such a good actor too?’_

“You know, I can take him if ya want.” Ruggie interceded after a while. “I have to take Jack anyway. Another kid is no issue for me.”

“Oui! That’s a magnificent idea! Ruggie is great with kids, he watches several kids too, so he’d be in good hands.”

Vil didn’t doubt he could be good with them and he trusted Rook, but he still was unsure. Not to mention he had met the man that day, he still didn't know him well. “I’ll think about it.”

Epel raised up and looked at him, no longer crying. “That always means no.”

“Then it’s no.” Vil replied.

“Papa!”

Vil rolled his eyes. “Even if you are in good hands I’d be worried about you, and I don’t want to think about you in the middle of my _very important_ show, so unless you want me to outright say no again, then I’ll think about it.”

Epel pouted and sat down with his stare fixed on the floor.

“Little apple, don’t be sad.” Rook lamented. “I’ll bring something I have for you.”

He stood up and went to retrieve something from the kitchen. He always spoiled him a lot, but at least he knew it was with good things, nothing that put him at risk or could make him sick. Moments later he came back with a package of macarons.

Epel’s face brightened instantly. He took them from Rook and was about to open them when Vil interrupted him.

“You can only have one. And say thank you.”

Epel frowned. “Why?”

“Because it’s too late to be eating sweets, and you’re grounded anyway.”

“It wasn’t my fault! He started it.” Epel whined.

Vil stood up to try and grab the package but Epel moved away. “No, you started it. He didn’t know and you didn’t even give him time to reconsider. Besides he didn’t call you a girl to mock you, he was trying to help you, but you still went to punch him without following the steps I told you, so yes, Epel you were at fault.” Seeing the boy was not about to give up his sweets he sat down again. “You can have one. And give one to Jack.”

Epel looked at the package in his hands while still frowning. Moments later he looked back at his dad. “Which one is apple?”

Vil extended his hand and this time Epel handed him the sweets without any issue. He opened the box to see six macaroons in different colors lined up. After eyeing him for a few seconds he pointed at one. “That one is apple pie, salted caramel apple pie.” Epel looked at them and pointed at another so Vil could tell him the other flavors. “That’s green tea with mango buttercream, lavender honey, pear and chestnuts, rose vanilla and strawberry lemonade. “

Epel grabbed one and then walked to Jack to show him the box. “Which one do you want, this one is tea, this one is honey, this one is pear, this one is vanilla and this one strawberry.”

“Pear.” Jack replied and Epel made a face. “Thank you.”

Epel then went to Rook and gave him one, thanking him for the sweets. He also gave one to Ruggie and one to Leona, then he walked up to Vil and handed him the box with the remaining one. “Save it for me for breakfast.”

Vil rolled his eyes and put the box in his purse. “You can have it for lunch, not at breakfast.”

* * *

Leona looked at the green macaron in his hand. “So your papa doesn’t get one?”

“Nope! He doesn’t eat.” Epel replied as he munched on his food.

“I don’t eat sweets right before a show, but I can eat them at any other time.” Vil replied.

“Really? I thought your personal trainer watched your weight?” He bit into the the sweet, which was more fruity than he imagined.

“You were actually paying attention to what I said? But let me tell you I’m not like one of those models that starve themselves like you think I am. My body knows what it needs and my trainer just makes sure that I get it all, sweets shouldn’t be alien to a diet if you’re healthy already, so of course I get to eat them from time to time. Right now it’s not the time.”

“Oh well, bless your personal trainer for taking care so well of your healthy and flexible body, you seem fond of him.” Leona sank into the couch while he sarcastically replied.

Vil’s face reddened a bit and his face showed a hint of disgust. “Just shut up already, talking to you make my head hurt.”

Before he could reply back, Ruggie interrupted him. “So, what was that about Epel punching Jack?”

Vil’s expression changed instantly to a tired one. “Epel had issues in the past where people mocked his cute appearance, so he’s quite sensitive about it. We’ve gone through a list of what he has to do if it happens again, but he always wants to resort to violence.” He sighed. “Today he was carrying a pile of books for his teacher and Jack saw him and tried to help him, telling him that girls shouldn’t carry heavy things, and Epel got mad. He hit him with a book and punched him before even telling him he was, in fact, a boy.”

“I told him at the same time I punched him, but after throwing the first book.” Epel said nonchalantly while he played with Jack.

Vil continued. “Epel kept hitting him with the books, and Jack just pushed him back, he didn’t hit him, but the teacher thought they were both fighting so she got them both in detention.” He brought a hand to his face. “I’m glad he didn’t hurt him badly but he still needs to control his temper.”

Leona wanted to laugh at the last statement seeing that the kid’s own dad seemed to be unable to do it either, but he was more surprised by the story. He hadn’t heard anything from Jack, only what was said at school, and after picking him up, they didn’t touch upon it at all. In fact, Jack barely spoke about school lately.

“It was nice of you to try and help him and to not fight back, little wolf. I guess you were following the ‘lady’s first’ rule from your people?” Rook asked. Leona raised an eyebrow at the nickname.

Jack nodded. “I didn’t really believe him because it didn’t hurt when he hit me, and when I pushed him back I thought I’d hurt him. I only knew he was a boy when Mr. Vil told me.”

“I’m going to get strong so I can punch you really hard.” Epel said with a smile.

Leona found his words amusing, but it seemed like Vil and Rook didn’t.

“You won’t do that, Epel.”

“It’s okay, I can take it.” Jack added.

“No, Jack, you won’t get in a fight with him.” Ruggie sternly said.

Leona didn’t care if the kid did or not, Jack should learn to deal with these issues on his own, but at the same time he didn’t want more problems –specially with Vil– so he was glad his friend spoke for him.

Vil sighed and looked at Rook. It seemed like he understood what he was telling him, because a second later Rook grabbed Epel and sat him on his lap again.

“Epel, we know you care a lot about this, but you shouldn’t resort to violence, that’s not beautiful.” Rook stroke Epel’s hair as he spoke. “You can hurt yourself badly and you don’t want that, right?” Epel shook his head. “And what if you end up hurting the other person? That’s not right either.”

“But they hurt me first, I want to hurt them too.”

“No–” Vil began to speak but Rook raised his hand to stop him.

“But they aren’t doing it to hurt you. Or was Jack purposely calling you a girl to make you mad?” Epel shook his head again. “There will be some people who will say it on purpose, I won’t lie, but you should remain calm, getting angry will just make them want to bother you more. If they’re nice, they’ll stop when you calmly tell them the truth properly. If they aren’t nice and don’t stop, the teacher or us will take care of it.”

Leona was quite surprised by the way he spoke, his first impression of him began to change. ‘ _Maybe he does have good qualities._ ’It also surprised him that it was something that affected Epel deeply, neither him nor Jack had any issues with bullying whatsoever. 

Epel leaned against Rook’s chest. “That’s like Ace, he teased me a lot today.”

“And did you hit him too?”

“No, I wanted to, but Deuce hit him for me.”

Rook and Vil looked at each other.

“I’ll call Cater... no, Trey tomorrow.” Vil quietly said.

“Why was Ace teasing you?” Jack asked.

“He said the book I was reading was for girls. It wasn’t.”

“I’ll hit him for you if he does it again.”

Unfortunately for Leona, Jack had a huge sense of justice, so while he was usually a calm, good boy, he also was always getting into fights for others.

“It’s okay, Riddle told me to tell him so he’ll tell his dad. So I’ll tell him tomorrow.” Epel explained.

“Riddle from the third grade?”

Epel nodded.

“I like Riddle, he’s smart and follows the rules and gives me tea.” Jack showed a hint of a smile.

Leona had no idea who any of those people were. This was the first time Jack talked about his classmates, he didn’t even know the names of his friends.

“He defends me from Ace but he’s scary, he’s always angry.” Epel added.

Leona saw Vil sneering quietly.

“So, little apple, do you promise you’ll stop hitting people?” Rook asked the kid. Epel sighed deeply but nodded nonetheless. “Jack, you don’t have to hit people for him, but will you do me a favor?” Jack nodded too. “If you hear someone is teasing Epel, will you help him?”

“I will, I won’t let other people call him a girl.” Jack sternly said.

* * *

_‘It’s such a silly thing to get mad at, and yet... of course he’ll only listen to Rook, not me.’_

After Rook finished speaking with the kid, Vil stood up.

“Epel, let’s go, it’s late and I’ll have a busy day tomorrow.”

“But I don’t wanna leave yet, papa.” Epel pouted, even though he pretended he wasn’t, he looked tired and was already moody like every time he went to sleep late.

“I don’t care, let’s go.” Vil grabbed Epel and carried him in his arms.

Epel tried to fight back, but Vil began to sing a lullaby. He wasn’t even done with the song when Epel fell asleep. The kid had never been able to resist his lullabies, they always put him to sleep fast.Vil noticed Jack was starting to fall asleep too and smiled to himself. The other three men stood up too.

Rook excused himself to bring Epel’s things, so Vil took the opportunity to talk to Ruggie.

“Congratulations on your relationship. Rook is– he’s a bit weird, I know, but he has a really good heart, I’m sure you’ve noticed by now, you’re in good hands.” Vil, who struggled a bit with the sleeping kid, spoke with his most sincere words.

Ruggie scratched the nape of his neck. “Thank you, I know. I’m happy to have meet him.”

“He’s good with the kid.” Leona added.

Vil nodded. “Yes, he’s good with kids and he loves Epel a lot.” He was really glad he had someone like him to help him, being a single father was pretty difficult.

“We’re leaving too.” Leona announced once Rook came back with Epel’s bag and clothes He gestured Jack to go with him. This time Ruggie went to bring Jack’s things. 

“Rook, can you still pick up Epel tomorrow?” Vil asked.

“Of course, why wouldn’t I?” Rook looked surprised by the question.

“Well, because I don’t know if you still have time.” He gestured to the place with his eyes.

“Ah, that is not an issue at all, Vil. You know I’ll always do whatever you ask, especially if it’s about the little apple.” Rook smiled widely.

“Okay, the teacher already knows you’re picking him up. I’ll bring his things to your house in the morning. Ah– should I pick him up here or at your place?”

Rook pondered for a few minutes. “It’s possible that it’ll be here, Ruggie is helping me with work. But If you have to stay too late then I’ll bring him home.”

“I’ll text you when I finish to see where I’ll pick him up.”

“D’accord. I’ll take care of him, don’t you worry.”

Vil moved closer Rook until he was a few centimeters away from him. “I still can’t believe you took weeks to tell me. You never hide things from me.”

“Non, non, I wasn’t. But you’re too stressed over your shows, I was going to wait until it was over.”

Vil made a face. While he was happy for his friend, he felt slightly offended that he found about it until now.

Ruggie came back with several things which he handed to Leona. Both parents said their goodbyes and left with their kids, but unfortunately were still stuck together until they got to their cars.

* * *

Leona carried the schoolbag and lunchbox on one hand and held Jack’s hand with the other. The man in front of him carried the kid, while he maneuvered a school bag, a lunchbox, a bag with clothes and his own purse.

“Need help?”

Vil turned and glared at him. “I told you before, no thank you, I can handle it myself.”

Leona sneered. “Sure you can.”

When Vil was going to reply, he noticed the sleepy kid at his side. “You seem tired, Jack. Is it past your bedtime already too?”

Leona was going to reply that Jack didn’t have one, but Jack nodded and spoke first. “It’s at 8.”

“Same as Epel’s, it’s already pretty late for both of you. Kids should get plenty of sleep to grow up big and strong.”

Jack nodded. “I liked your song, Mr. Vil. It made me want to go to sleep too.”

Vil smiled. “I’m glad you did. It’s specially made to make kids go to sleep fast. Sometimes it’s the only way I can get Epel to sleep.”

“A spell?” Leona asked.

“Of course not! I won’t put a spell on my kid for that reason, don’t be ridiculous. It’s just the tone and melody I use.”

Leona sneered again.

“Jack, thank you for playing with Epel today, and again, sorry for what happened this morning. We’ll see you later.” Ignoring the man, Vil spoke to the kid when they arrived to their cars.

Leona didn’t say anything either and just urged Jack to get inside the car as he didn’t want to spend any more time with the ridiculous man. It had been a long day after all.


	3. Chapter 3

Vil’s show was a success. He managed to close the deal he wanted and even even got other contracts out of it.

Leona even saw an article about the show in the newspaper next morning, and little by little he noticed that the model was indeed in several ads throughout the city, including several TV commercials and shows.

For several days after that Vil had to pick up Epel at Ruggie’s house, some days Leona was there, and some days he wasn’t, but for better or for worse they ended up seeing each other a few times. Leona tried to leave before Vil arrived, but more often than not Jack wanted to wait for him. In his words it was because he didn’t want to leave Epel alone, but in reality it was because he wanted to see Vil too.

* * *

“Jack, let’s go. It’s almost time for your bedtime.” Leona recently learned that Jack, in fact, had a bedtime. He didn’t impose it, Jack chose it on his own, so that’s why he didn’t know. But now that he knew about, it made things easier for him.

“Mr. Vil hasn’t arrived yet.” Jack said and continued playing with Epel.

“He said today he’d come early, but he isn’t here.” Epel said. “I can’t trust papa.”

“Little apple, your papa’s show is in a week, he must be really busy.”

“But he said he’d come early today! He wanted to take me shopping.” Epel made a face. “I’m happy he’s not here.”

“Don’t say that, little apple.” Rook lamented. “Ah, but if he promised you something, then it is indeed weird he isn’t here yet. I hope nothing happened to him.”

“Jack. Let’s go.” Leona ignored the conversation and urged his kid to go.

“No, dad. Let’s wait, please.” Jack pleaded.

Jack normally always did what Leona asked when he asked, and he almost never asked for anything else, so he wasn’t sure how to deal with him right now.

“Only 5 more minutes.”

After having to meet him several times during the week, Leona didn’t want to see the man. Though he had to accept he had started to tolerate him more, and it was always fun to tease him, so that was a silver lining.

Before Rook could call his friend, Ruggie noticed something outside from the living room’s window.

“A truck just parked here, but it’s not Vil’s car. Ah, never mind, he seems to be inside the truck with someone else.”

Rook walked to the window to see. When he looked at what was going out outside his pupils widened and his brows furrowed. “Oh no.”

Both Leona and Ruggie looked at him.

“Is something wrong?” Ruggie asked.

“Oh non, it’s just– that’s Vil’s personal trainer–”

Without moving from his spot, Leona interrupted him. “Ah, the famous trainer. I’ve heard about him.”

“He’s... A bit obsessed with Vil, I won’t say he’s in love with him, but he’s always trying to make a move on him. Vil doesn’t like him back, and he doesn’t like his advances. I’m not sure why he’s bringing him here.” Rook explained.

Leona stood up and walked to the window too. “If he doesn’t like him why is he still his trainer?”

“Mr. Vargas is really strong and amazing. But he’s sooo weird and annoying.” Epel said. “I don’t like when he tells me to talk good about him to papa.”

“Indeed, he’s a really good trainer and he helped Vil a lot in the past, but he’s... difficult. I don’t like his obsession with Vil.” Rook made a face.

Leona squinted his eyes, trying to catch a glimpse of the man in the car. “You said Vargas? As in Ashton Vargas?”

“Oui! Do you perhaps know about him?” Rook asked, surprised that he knew about him with just his last name.

Leona groaned and Ruggie snickered.

“We do, Leona is not exactly fond of him either.” Ruggie explained. “He used to be his coach years ago, but they always had arguments and fights so they stopped working together.”

“He’s an ass, no matter how good he was, it was annoying to work with him. It doesn’t surprise me he’s in love with that guy.” Leona walked to the couch again, but he had an idea before he could sit down. He nodded to Ruggie and walked out of the house. 

* * *

His day couldn’t be any worse, but he didn’t want to jinx himself so he decided to try to stay calm.He had been pretty busy these past days, but still he had arranged to have half a day off to go shopping with Epel since his birthday was coming up. However just when he went to leave the studio, he found out his car wouldn’t start.

He kicked himself mentally for not taking it for a checkup weeks ago when it first started to show signs of malfunctions. He thought about calling a taxi or Rook, but when he was about to, he dropped his phone, breaking the screen and making it unable to turn on. After trying to fix it and having some people check it for him with no avail, he gave up. And just when he thought things couldn’t get any worse, coach Vargas approached him and offered to give him a ride home.

He insisted it wasn’t necessary, that he had things to do with his kid and that Rook would just pick him up, _“_ _no need to worry”._ But like always, the man didn’t listen and threw Vil’s things into his truck and asked him to hop in, which left Vil with no other option but to accept.

He appreciated the man, he wasn’t going to lie; he had helped him since he was younger, always supporting him and believing in him. He stayed even after he decided to have a kid when many of his other employees didn’t. But he definitely didn’t like his advances. He had told him many times he wasn’t interested, but the man didn’t seem to comprehend. He’d stop for a while only to start showing interest in him later again.

They didn’t even went home straight away, coach Vargas insisted on taking Vil to finish his errands, and he even called a mechanic to fix Vil’s car and took him to a place so he could get his phone fixed, so he really couldn’t be angry at him. He even wanted to take him to get dinner, but Vil told him he really needed to pick up Epel, that even if he was in good hands the kid was going to start being fuzzy about him not coming soon, after all he was probably crushed that he couldn’t take him shopping that day. That was obviously a lie, but he needed a way to make him drive him to Ruggie’s house as soon as possible. Coach Vargas ended up accepting and finally brought him to where Vil wanted.

“Thank you so much, coach. I really appreciate your help, today was just the worst. I can’t believe my car and phone died on me the same day.” He said with a dramatic sigh when they arrived.

“You know I’ll do anything for you Schoenheit. You and I are special and need to stay together through our hardships.” Vargas placed his hand on Vil’s seat.

“Of course, you’ve always helped me when I most needed it. Thank you again, and I’ll see you tomorrow.” Vil smiled politely, then he tried to open the door, however he found out it was locked. “The door is locked, can you open it?”

“You said this house belonged to Hunt’s boyfriend, right?” The coach ignored him and looked at the house.

“Yes, that’s right. Rook still watches him often and he helps him, they should be with him now.”

“It’s pretty small, Hunt’s house is way bigger than this.”

“It is smaller, yes. But it’s... cozy, and it has an amazing garden, it’s quite pretty.” 

“Sure, sure, but I don’t know, it’s weird to have him settle for something like this.”

“Well, that was his decision, I’m sure he didn’t chose him for his house.”

“Yeah I can see that. But you know what? I’m glad he found someone, I think it was time for him. He’d been single all these years I’ve known him.”

“He’s quite the romantic, so he was waiting for his special someone. To finally have him dating, I guess Ruggie is quite special.” Vil sighed. He was happy for his friend, but sometimes he felt a bit envious.

“You know, you’ve been single for quite some time too, right? Since you got your kid, so it’s been like...”

Vil froze. ‘ _Not this again.’_

“Four years. Yes I know, I know. But I told you before, I don’t have time for that right now. I want to focus on my career and on Epel. I don’t want to neglect any of those, so a partner is not my priority right now.” He almost had this speech memorized, it was always the same.

“You don’t have to do this alone. You’re really strong, but imagine if you had a stronger and beautiful man by your side. You could take a break from everything and do what you want.”

“I’m already doing what I want. Please open the door, now.” He insisted.

“Yes, but just imagine: you staying home, taking care of all the kids, waiting for your man with dinner ready.”

Vil laughed. “Kids? I just have Epel and that’s enough for now, and you know, I don’t really see myself as a stay at home dad. I really enjoy working.”

“But you know how the industry is. Your career won’t last for much longer once you start getting older, so you need to start thinking about the future.”

He gritted his teeth. “I know. But I still have time, so I want to enjoy my time alone, I told you.”

“But think about what I said. Everything is better when you have someone by your side. Someone who you trust and has always been there for you. You surely understand what I mean?” Vargas grabbed Vil’s hand.

“I do but– look, I have no doubt you’d be an amazing partner, but just not for me and not right now. Like you said, I don’t have much time so I need to keep working hard, I can’t worry about a spouse right now.”

  
He was half telling the truth. He couldn’t deny that he longed to have someone by his side, he missed the warmth and love of a partner, but that didn’t meant he was going to settle for anybody. It had to be someone who loved him more than anything, and someone who was okay with Epel and with him working, so he knew it wasn’t an easy task.

Before Vargas could reply, they both heard a knock on Vil’s window. Turning around, Vil was surprised, but relieved, to see Leona there.

* * *

Leona definitely wasn’t thinking on helping Vil, he didn’t give a shit about their relationship, but he wasn’t going to pass on the opportunity to annoy coach Vargas.He saw the two men talking inside the car, but he noticed Vil was obviously uncomfortable. He knocked on the window, scaring both of them.

Vargas rolled down the window on Vil’s side. Leona noticed how relieved Vil looked.

_‘Heh, who would say he’d be happy to see me?’_

“Coach Vargas, it’s been a while.” He said, leaning on the car and ignoring Vil completely.

“Kingscholar, is that you?” Vargas asked and smiled widely. “It’s really been a while. How have you been?”

“Great, of course. The team and the kid keep me busy.”

“Yeah, I heard you got a kid. A little runt like you, I assume.”

Leona saw Vil trying to unlock he door quietly but unable to do so. “Ah well, you can say that, Jack is still a kid, he’s 4.”

Leona walked around to Vargas’ side who opened the door when he approached. They shook hands and Vargas even left the car to hug him effusively, but as soon as Leona let go, he returned to his seat inside the car. Leona didn’t let him close the door and continued talking to him.

“Wait, don’t tell me this is your house? Are you Hunt’s boyfriend?”

“Oh hell no, of course not. This is Ruggie’s house, do you remember him?”

“Ah, Ruggie Bucchi! Of course, how could I forget him? That little rascal who was always with you.”

“Indeed. He’s Rook’s boyfriend.”

“He is? That’s surprising. I always though you’d end up with Bucchi instead.”

“Don’t even joke about that, coach.” Finally he looked at the model. “Hey, you’re late, the kids were worried about you.”

“Ah, I’m– I’m sorry, I had some issues so I couldn’t come early.” Vil replied, his voice suddenly sweet, not a trace of the discomfort from before.

“Schoenheit, you know Kingscholar?” Vargas turned to him.

“Of course, our kids, Jack and Epel have play dates all the time.” Leona replied. “They go to school together so we see each other often. Isn’t that right?”

“Yes, we meet up here all the time.”

“Yes, Ruggie, his boyfriend, me, him and our kids. Quite a party.”

“You never mentioned you knew him, I’d come with you more often if I knew.” Vargas spoke to Vil and then turned to Leona. “You see, I’m Schoenheit’s personal trainer and good friend. I’ve worked with him for years.”

“Yeah, you mentioned you had a yoga trainer once, I didn’t know it was him.” Leona spoke to Vil.

“Well, I didn’t know you two knew each other. That’s a surprise for me.” Vil said, suppressing a scowl.

“I coached him for years, just before I started working with you actually. But we had some differences, I’m sure you already know about Kingscholar’s angry outbursts and mood changes, so it didn’t work out.”

Vil laughed. “Ah, is that so? I’m sure it was an honour to work with him though. I know Magift players’ routines are exhaustive. Quite a difference from a model’s work.”

“Don’t be modest, you know I love working with you. You alone make everything better.”

Leona noticed Vil sunk in his seat, trying to increase the distance between them.

“Vil, it’s late, let’s go inside.” Leona spoke, making both men turn to him.

“Yes, you’re right. The kids must be worried.” Vil went to open the door, finally succeeding in his task.

“But I told you I’m bringing you home, just tell your kid to come and I’ll take you there.”

“No need, coach. We already agreed I’d be taking them home. To not bother Ruggie and Rook. We prefer to let them have their alone time, you understand, don’t you?” Leona walked to Vil’s side again, opening the door wide for him.

Vil nodded and handed Leona the bags he was carrying on his lap. “Yes, don’t worry, coach. Leona already knows where I live, and it’s on his way home, so it’s okay. See you tomorrow.”

“Alright. Then I’ll pick you up tomorrow morning.”

Vil was already half outside the car when he heard Vargas speak. “Tomorrow? Why?”

“Your car is still at the mechanic and you don’t even have your phone.”

“Right, you’re really kind, but no need. You don’t have to–”

“It’s okay, I’ll pick him up. I have to take Jack to school so it’s not a problem to pick him up too. It’s my day off.” Leona placed a hand on Vil’s lower back, right above his ass, and pushed him slightly towards the house. “Thank you coach, and goodbye.”

He didn’t let any of the other two men say anything else, he just kept walking.

When they’d finally put some distance between the truck and the house, Vil whispered. “What do you think you’re doing? Don’t touch me there.”

“Shut up. I don’t want to be here any more than you.” He whispered back. “But if you want I’ll call him and you can leave with him.”

Vil grumbled something, but otherwise kept walking next to him.

* * *

_‘What is this man thinking?’_

He appreciated what he had done for him by saving him from the awkwardness with coach Vargas, but he was taking it too far by touching him. Still, he understood that now he had to stick with it until Vargas left, which he only did once they went inside the house.

Once inside, Leona quickly let go of him. “How annoying.” He said and dropped the bags on the floor near the entrance, going straight back to the couch.

Ruggie and Rook were standing on the entrance waiting for them while the kids played on the living room’s floor.

“Vil! Are you okay? What happened?” Rook quickly came to his friend’s side.

Vil sighed deeply before speaking angrily. “Ugh I can’t stand it. Do you know what he said? He said, ‘you’ve been single for too long, you need a strong man by your side so you can take care of the kids’ yes, he said ‘kids’ in plural, and he wants me to become a housewife while he works! Splendid.” He hid his face on his hands while he walked towards the couch where Leona was sitting on. “And not just that, he said I need to think about the future because my career won’t last long, so I have to look for a husband. Ugh.” Sitting on the couch, he grabbed a pillow and covered his face with it.

“Sounds lovely, so tell me again, why are you working with him?” Leona asked him.

He let go of the pillow to reply to the man. “Why didn’t you tell me you knew him?”

“How should I know you knew him too? You never said anything other than how amazing of a trainer you had. I definitely wouldn’t think you meant that asshole.”

“Shut up. I never said that, you always twist my words.” Vil sighed. “Though he’s not that bad, he is a good trainer and a good person.”

“I know him, he’s an asshole. No matter how good of a coach he is, he’s still an asshole.”

“Oh sure, and are you better?” Vil made a face. He felt angry at what had happened, and he couldn’t help but get his frustrations out at him. 

“I’m not the one kept you locked inside a car, am I?” Leona raised an eyebrow.

“He was going to let me go eventually, after he finished his awkward and annoying conversation like always.”

“You looked terrified.”

“I wasn’t, I was just a bit uncomfortable. He’s really not a bad man, he helped me a lot in the past. He’s normally not like this, just from time to time he seems to forget I said no. I definitely don’t like it when he’s pushy, but he has never overstepped my boundaries or done anything to me. ”

“Are you waiting until he does, then?” Leona asked seeming unimpressed by his words.

“No, of course I’m not. I always tell him I’m not interested and he understands, for a while. Tomorrow it’ll be as if nothing happened and we’ll work normally. That’s how things are.” He knew he was being defensive, and Leona was sort of right about some things, but he was conflicted and didn’t want to agree with him. He knew how to deal with coach Vargas. 

Sensing the tension between the two, Rook walked towards them and put a hand on Vil’s shoulder. “He had never locked you inside a car though, even if he’s not a bad person I still think you should be careful, Vil. It was amazing how Leona acted so fast! Not even I thought about going to see why you were not coming out. You should at least thank him.”

Vil raised his head and looked at Leona, ignoring his friend for the moment. “How did you make it so I could open the door? Magic? I didn’t see your pen.”

Calmer than before, Leona replied. “That sort of truck can only open the other doors if the driver’s door is open. It’s a security measure. You should take it in consideration next time you’re in his car.”

“There won’t be next time.” Vil hesitated before continuing. “But Rook is right. Thank you for getting me out of that unfortunate situation faster than what it could’ve taken normally.”

“I didn’t want to help you, I just wanted to piss him off.”

Ruggie snickered. “You definitely never miss that opportunity.”

“Well, he’s the worst coach I had, and even you know that.”

“I need to thank you too, Leona. He’s indeed a difficult person that even I sometimes can’t handle, so thank you for helping Vil.” Rook added, placing his other hand on Leona’s shoulder.

“I said I didn’t want to help him, so no need to thank me.”

“Ah, but you still did! You could’ve just gone and talk to him and leave Vil there. You could’ve annoyed both of them then.”

“Taking away his beloved trophy wife was better than just talking to him, that’s just what I did.”

“I’m not a trophy wife.” Vil rolled his eyes.

“That’s what he wants you for. I heard some of your conversation.”

Vil sighed. It had been a terrible day and he didn’t want to keep talking about the issue. He sighed into the pillow once again, but suddenly he felt a small hand on his leg.

“Papa, I don’t like Mr. Vargas too much. He’s strong and cool but he never remembers my name. He calls me kiddo or son, but never Epel.” Epel sighed dramatically. “Why were you with him? You said you wouldn’t meet him outside work anymore.”

Vil grabbed Epel’s hand. “I’m sorry, Epel. I was supposed to take you shopping today but I couldn’t. You see, the car broke down so I couldn’t come pick you up.”

Epel giggled. “That’s better, I haaaate shopping. I’m glad I stayed playing with Jack.”

“I still bought you a few things, so you’ll try them on when we get home.” Vil said and Epel made a face. “How was your day? What did you two do?”

“We played and we painted and ate apples.”

“And your homework?” Vil asked his kid.

Epel rolled his eyes and Jack replied for him. “We did it before we started playing.”

Vil smiled and congratulated the kid. It was nice that Epel had such a hardworking friend, maybe he could learn something from him.

“Why don’t you bring your drawings to show them what you did?” Ruggie asked the kids. Both kids nodded and left the room to bring what they had been asked to.

“I’m sorry, Vil. Did I just hear that your car broke down?” Rook asked when the kids had left the room.

“Yes, I know. No need to remind me that you told me weeks ago that I had to get it checked. I know. I’ve been busy and didn’t have time. It was still working this morning, I’m not sure what happened.”

“I told you it was the motor, it–"

“I know. I know. That’s what the mechanic said.” Vil rolled his eyes. He didn’t know much about cars, and he knew he should’ve listened to his friend when he first told him about the problem but he really had been busy. He spent all days going from one place to the other to finish things for his show, all while still doing his other jobs, so he definitely didn’t have time to waste at the mechanic. “Coach Vargas called and asked for it to be taken there, I didn’t even ask him. And I couldn’t call you because I broke my phone.”

“In anger?” Leona asked mockingly.

“Of course not, it was an accident. I tried calling a taxi and I dropped it. It was horrible, the whole screen cracked and the metal bent, and it wouldn’t turn on. Coach Vargas took me to get it fixed so it should be ready tomorrow or the next day.”

“Did you do all of that on purpose? What are the odds you broke both your car and phone the same day.” Leona spoke with the same mocking tone as before.

“If you’re implying I did it so coach Vargas could drive me around you are clearly mistaken. I didn’t want him to bring me home, even less for him to drive me around doing errands, but it’s so difficult to reject him. He’s too persistent.”

* * *

“That’s not the word I’d use.” Leona replied.

He really couldn’t understand why Vil defended him so much. The coach was good and nobody could deny that, he was famous for taking many teams to victory, but he was really difficult to work with. He was a narcissist and didn’t care about anyone else, if he made people succeed was only so he could take the praise and fame himself.He wasn’t surprised the coach was interested in someone like Vil, he was definitely his type.

The kids came back with several sheets of paper, they all had different drawings on them, some with crayons, others with some kind of paint and others with markers. They began to explain what they drew and what they used, but Leona wasn’t too interested in listening to them, he was tired and wanted to leave. Not to mention, seeing coach Vargas only worsened his mood.

“Let’s go, Jack.” He stood up, interrupting the kids in their talk. “I’ll take you two home too.”

Vil raised an eyebrow. “I don’t need you to, Rook can take us, or I can call a taxi.”

“It’s late for you to use a taxi. Come on.” Leona started grabbing his belongings.

“I’m serious, I don’t need your help.” Vil refused to stand up. He still had the kids’ drawings on his hands.

“You told Vargas I was taking you home, that your house was on the way of mine.”

“I have no idea where you live, and you don’t know where I live.”

“Jack, Epel, grab your things, we’re leaving.” Leona spoke to the kids who cheered and went to bring their bags, then he grabbed the papers from his hands and placed them inside the Vil’s purse. “Come on.”

“Leona.”

“Why are you always so difficult?” Leona grunted. It seemed like the man’s job was to make his life harder even when he was trying to be nice.

Vil scowled. “I’m not being difficult, I just don’t need your help. Rook can take me.”

“Ah, Vil, speaking of that.” Rook spoke. “Monsieur Dandelion and I still have work to finish, so I can’t take you tonight. I’m extremely sorry!”

“Monsieur...”

“Dandelion?”

Hearing the nickname Rook called Ruggie made them stop their argument and remain speechless.

Ruggie covered his face with his hand, and muttered an embarrassed, “shut up.”

“Oui. Ruggie helped me with the last photo shoot, and he was such a great help, I couldn’t have done a better work without him! But it needs to be finished by tomorrow and I still have many details to work on.”

“That’s because you are too picky. We could’ve finished days ago but you get lost into tiny details and it take us years to finish. Even so, the pictures are already fine, shouldn’t take us too long. I can finish it myself.”

“Non, they’re still unacceptable. That work is incomplete.” Rook grabbed Ruggie’s hand. “We can try finishing tonight.”

  
The kids arrived with their bags. Vil looked at the kids and then stared at two adults holding hands, before sighing and nodding. “Fine, I’ll let you take us home.”

“What an honor.” Leona rolled his eyes.

“You’re a really bad actor, you know that?” Vil went to pick up the bags Leona discarded before. “It’s good coach Vargas is inattentive about these things because your acting was horrible, I wouldn’t believe you.”

_‘Is he really saying that to the guy who is offering to help him?’_ Leona couldn’t believe the audacity of the man, but he didn’t want to start an argument again.

“Well, excuse me for being an athlete and not an actor.” Leona opened the door, and waited for them to finish gathering their stuff and saying goodbye. “But you said it yourself, it’s so hard to be a Magift player, so more exhausting than being a model.”

The last thing Leona saw before exiting the house was Vil rolling his eyes.   
  


* * *

_‘Just my luck, now I have to tell this man where I live. The worst!’_

“I did not say that! I said– it wasn’t meant for you anyway, it was for coach Vargas so he’d take a hint and leave me alone. Don’t start imagining things.”

“Oh you definitely said that, but it backfired, didn’t it? Or you did it on purpose?”

“Shut up. I said many times I’m not interested in him, why do you insist?” 

“Put your bags and the kids bags in the trunk.” Leona opened the driver’s door and sat inside.

Vil gave him a skeptical look, amused by how little he cared about things. Realizing he wasn’t going to help with anything, Vil opened the truck and placed his bags inside before getting the kid’s bag from them and placing there too. Then he brought the kids inside the car, secured them on the backseat, and then finally went to the passenger’s seat.

“Ready?” Leona asked sluggishly.

“Are you always a gentleman?” Vil asked sarcastically while he fastened his seatbelt.

“Of course.” He started the car. “With the people who need and accept my help.”

Vil rolled his eyes. It was true he had insisted that he didn’t need help –and he really didn’t– but he felt he could’ve helped at least his own kid. Vil liked Jack of course, but that was Leona’s job, not his.

After Vil showed him the way to his house they found out it was indeed on the way to Leona’s home. They rode almost in silence with only the voices of kids echoing in the car. After a while, Leona broke the silence.

“You don’t own him anything.”

“Excuse me?” Vil who was focused on his cellphone was surprised by the sudden words.

“Vargas. Just because he helped you in the past doesn’t mean you owe him anything. You don’t have to have him around just because you’re grateful.”

Vil sighed. “Yes, I know.”

“And you don’t have to be so polite with him. If he’s making you uncomfortable then tell him, don’t wait until it’s too late. He’s the type of men who doesn’t understand unless you’re direct with him, and even then I’m not sure he does.”

“I said I understand. I know he doesn’t get it, if he did he would have stopped years ago; but he’s really not a bad person, he wouldn’t do anything to me. And even if he thought about doing something, even just like forcing me into a kiss, I would complain and the repercussions would be horrible. He wouldn’t risk staining his name for something like that.”

Leona snickered. “You think people would believe you over him?”

Vil narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean?”

“No offence but as famous as you are, you’re still a newbie. He’s been making a name for himself for what? 20 years? You know he had been competing since he was a kid, right? You were probably still a baby when he was already famous. And people love him. He created that persona that everybody loves. They would believe him over you.”

Leona’s words were harsh, but Vil knew he was right. He also had a feeling Leona was speaking from experience, but he thought it wasn’t the place to ask.

“I’m not as weak as you think I am. I took self defense classes and my magic is exceptional, I can defend myself. I would never get to the point when he tries something.”

“Why didn’t you use your magic to unlock the door?”

“That’s because...” he hesitated. “I didn’t have my magical pen on me, and I thought it’d be rude if I tried to get it from my purse.”

Leona sighed. “There you go again. That politeness is what’s going to hurt you.”

“No, it’s not! He’s my personal trainer, I just thought–”

“He doesn’t care about what you think.”

Vil ignored the comment and looked behind to see the kids playing.

“Tell me the real reason why you keep him around. Is it really because he helped you?” Leona asked when he knew he wouldn’t get any other reply from Vil.

Vil sunk into his seat. “I guess, partially. You see, the industry is not too kind to... parents, and specially single parents. I stopped getting jobs after...” he pointed to Epel with his eyes, “it was a really difficult time for us. But he talked with people and I started getting jobs again, and here I am, I have a lot more work than before.”

Leona rolled his eyes. “A thanks is enough. Isn’t he supposed to be a selfless and kind person? If he helped you without hidden intentions then it should be fine now.”

“I know, but he didn’t like me at first, I don’t think that was part of his motivations. I _do_ know how he is, I know he was betting on my success. If I ended up becoming famous, he’d become the coach who made me so, just like he has done many times.” Vil sat straight. “But it’s not like it’s just on him. I also accepted for my own interests. He’s extremely popular, so having someone who won competitions since he was a kid, who’s coached many famous athletes and dancers and models as my own personal trainer would mean more fame for me too. I’m not that selfless either.”

Leona rolled his eyes again. “It’s not worth it. And there are many other good coaches who won’t try to get into your pants.”

“That’s difficult when it’s about someone like me.” Vil said with a grin.

“Maybe you two really are meant for each other.”

“Stop that, I was kidding.” Vil laughed softly. “But, you’re sort of right. If things get worse then I’ll start thinking about replacing him.”

“Get worse how? That was already bad enough, I really don’t know what you’re waiting for.”

“Fine, fine I know. But I’m really busy, I don’t have time to think about that now. After my show I’ll see.”

They drove in silence for a few more minutes. The gps showed they were five minutes away from Vil’s house when Leona broke the silence again.

“What are you going to do tomorrow? Need a ride too?”

Vil shook his head and made a face. “Why are you being so nice today?”

“Oh I thought you said I wasn’t a gentleman? I’m not sure what you’re expecting from me.”

“It’s weird, you’re never nice.” Vil looked away. “But don’t worry, I’ll call Rook tomorrow, he can take Epel to school and if my car is fixed already then he can take me to the mechanic, if it isn’t then he’ll take me to work.”

“Aren’t you relying too much on him? He said he was busy.”

Vil hesitated. “Maybe I am, but he’s always said he’d do anything to help me, especially if it involves Epel.”

“But he has a life, he’s with Ruggie now.”

“Of course I know that, I don’t want to meddle with his love life, especially now that he’s dating someone for the first time. I know he said he couldn’t bring me because he wanted to spend some time with him, not because he had a lot of work. Lately I’ve been bringing Epel a lot so he probably doesn’t get to be alone with him too much.”

“Wait. For the first time? What do you mean? Didn’t you two dated?” Leona asked just as he parked the car in front of the house.

“Rook and I?” Vil’s eyes widened. “Of course not. Where did you hear that? That’s shocking.”

“It’s more shocking to find out it’s not true. He treats the kid as if he was his own and he does anything you want.”

“Wait, it’s not a joke? You really thought he was my ex?” Vil laughed. “That’s just how he is, we’ve been friend since high school. He helps me because he can and wants to, like Ruggie and you, I guess? Just friends.”

“So you didn’t think I was with Ruggie either, like _that guy_.”

“I already think Ruggie is crazy enough to be dating Rook, I wouldn’t believe he also dated someone like you.” Vil grinned. “I can’t believe you really thought I dated Rook.”

“You treat him like your ex, though. You freaked out when he told you he had a new boyfriend and you always expect him to do everything for you and for Epel.”

Vil pouted. “It’s not different from you and Ruggie. You were also surprised, and Ruggie does way more for you than Rook for me.”

“I don’t know about that.”

They stayed in silence for a few seconds even though they were already in front of Vil’s house.

“Epel, how does that sound? Jack and I’ll pick you up tomorrow to take you to school.” Leona turned to see the kids.

Both kids cheered and beamed. Vil smiled at their happy faces and realized he had lost again. He still didn’t like Leona much, but he seemed somewhat trustworthy. “Fine, fine. Give me your phone number.”

“Aren’t you being too straightforward? We just met.” Leona teasingly said with a grin on his face.

“Don’t flatter yourself.” He rolled his eyes. “I may need it.”

“You don’t even have a phone right now, how are you gonna call?”

“Epel, give me your phone.” Vil commanded his kid, who promptly got a phone from his jacket and gave it to Vil.

“You gave a phone to the kid?” Leona asked in disbelief.

“Yes, obviously it’s for only emergencies.”

“He’s 4.”

“So what?”

“You’re being too overprotective, he’s 4, he doesn’t need a phone.”

“Hey, don’t start judging my parenting now. He may need to call me, and maybe he won’t be able to use the phone wherever he is.”

“Isn’t it more dangerous for him to use a phone? What if someone else tries to contact him?”

Epel sighed. “It can’t. I can’t do anything on it other than call papa and granpapa. I can’t even watch videos.”

“Exactly because I said it’s in case you need to call me. And now I’ll use it in case I need to call Leona. That’s all. Now give me your phone number, and hand me your phone too so I can give you mine.”

Leona grabbed the phone from Vil and begrudgingly typed his number. Then, he handed his phone to Vil so he could do the same. Vil typed both Epel’s and his own number. After they got each other’s phones back, Vil finally noticed they were outside their house. He said goodbye to Jack while he unbelted Epel, then he went to the back of the car to get their bags. After seeing him struggle to open the trunk, Leona went to help him.

“Thank you.” Vil said when Leona handed him the bags.

“I can be a gentleman sometimes.” Leona grinned.

“Ugh, not that. Thank you for helping me with coach Vargas today, I know we already spoke about it, and I still think I wasn’t in danger, but I still appreciate it. And thank you for bringing us home and for offering to bring Epel to school.” He smiled and fixed his hair. “It’s so bizarre to have you helping me so much in one day, but I won’t complain.”

“Oh, don’t worry, I’ll make you pay me in some way later.” Leona grinned and closed the trunk.

“You really are the worst. But it’s fine, I’ll see what can I do, I always pay back my debts.” Vil began fumbling with his purse trying to find his keys. “Epel, let’s go, say goodbye to Leona.”

“Bye Leona!” Epel yelled while Vil reprimanded him for not using proper language.

The parent and child walked towards the entrance of their house, but Leona didn’t move from his spot.  
  


“This is a safe neighbourhood, that’s unnecessary.” Vil spoke loudly so he could hear him from afar. He understood what he was doing, and while he thought it was unnecessary, he also felt good knowing he cared enough. Maybe he really could be a gentleman some times.

“You’re still a skinny guy with a kid and ten bags on him, I think I’ll wait here.”

Vil rolled his eyes and kept walking. Epel kept waving back while his father dragged him along, so it was difficult for Vil to open the door. When they finally went inside, Leona also went inside his car and speed up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the comments, I’ll try to reply but I’m sorry if I take my time doing it!  
> This chapter ended up being too long but I didn’t want to make it two chapters.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay (and mistakes), I was sick this whole week (still am) so I couldn't post sooner. This one is a bit lengthy too.

Vil tried to make sure everything went alright, but like usually, luck wasn’t on his side.

It was Epel’s birthday, and he always made sure it was a special day for the kid. The night before he stayed up late preparing two cakes for him, one for the afternoon at Ruggie’s place and an apple pie for breakfast. He was an _okay_ baker, even if he didn’t do it often, but he miscalculated the timings and ended up finishing later than expected. He hated missing sleep, specially when he had a lot of work, but since it was all for his son he tried to not mind it.

He woke up early on the special day to prepare everything to, even though he was still quite tired from the day before; but as it often happened, Epel didn’t want to wake up. The kid was a heavy sleeper, it didn’t matter if it was a special day or not, he never woke up on time.

When he finally got out of bed, he wasn’t in a good mood as expected. He hated that he had been awoken early and now his dad was rushing him to get ready. He cried when Vil was combing his hair, and didn’t want to come downstairs.By the time he managed to get Epel ready, it was already too late to waste too much time spoiling him.

Normally for both of their birthdays, Vil and Epel took the day off and went to celebrate it somewhere else; but since this time Vil was busy, they had been unable to do it. He promised they’d go after his show, and Epel told him he understood but it was clear he wasn’t too happy about it; it was normally the day when his dad let him do anything without reprimanding him after all.

Still, Vil tried to make the day special. He let him have apple pie for breakfast and let him open one present. Epel’s mood improved after he ate his favorite pie, so he opened his present with a smile on his face. The gift was a picture book, that Vil –reluctantly– let him take to school.

He’d make arrangements to bring the other cake and presents to Ruggie’s house in the afternoon after Rook picked up Epel from school. Unfortunately there were some issues at work and he couldn’t leave when he had planned, so it was already late in the afternoon when he finally drove to Ruggie’s house.

* * *

The finals were in two days which meant Leona’s training had been more intense. He thought about calling Ruggie and asking him to take Jack home, but he knew his friend wouldn’t want to, specially now that he spent most of his time with his boyfriend. He had no choice but picking up the kid and going home to sleep.

When he arrived to Ruggie’s house he unconsciously looked for the blue car that was so often there, but when he didn’t see it he was reminded of the incident with Vargas from days ago. He hoped it wouldn’t happen again.

He found Epel and Jack playing in the garden with some toys he hadn’t seen before. He figured Epel had brought them and since they looked too happy playing with them, he realized Jack wasn’t going to want to go home soon. He decided to go inside and rest for a while.

“Ah it’s you! I thought it was Vil.” Rook said as he opened the door to receive him.

“Sorry about that, it’s just me.” Leona rolled his eyes. He wasn't surprised that the guy was there all the time anymore. If he didn't know any better he'd think he had already moved in.

“Oh non non, I’m glad you’re here, the more the merrier, the little apple is going to be so happy!”

“What do you–”

“But Vil said he was coming two hours ago and he’s still not here.” Rook interrupted with a sorrowful face.

“He better not bring that guy here again.”

“I will call him in case he needs anything. Ah, monsieur Dandelion is in the kitchen if you need him.”

Leona cringed again at the corny nickname, but deciding to ignore it he walked up to the couch from where he was able to listen to the phone conversation that followed. He noticed some balloons and flowers on the walls in the dining room, but he ignored them too; he only wanted to rest.

_“Vil? Hey where– ah, I see. Oui, it’s all ready. Oui. Oui. He’s playing with the little wolf. Oh, Leona is already here too! Yes, I will tell him. Oui. Trés bien, I’ll see you here.”_

Rook finished the call and walked up to Leona. “He’s almost here! Leona, can you–”

“No.”

“Oh, you’re really playful today!” Rook smiled widely. “Just help him bring the things in, if you help him it won't take too long. I’ll take the kids to the backyard so they don't interfere.”

Rook went outside, leaving Leona confused. He didn’t understand what was Vil bringing in and he didn’t care, he wished he’d just left when he had the opportunity. He didn’t have much time to ponder about that though since moments later he heard a car outside the house.

By the sound alone, he knew it was Vil. Of course, Rook had just said so, but he was getting used to him coming so much that he could recognize his car solely by the noises it made. He decided to not make things worse and go see what he needed help with, he didn't want to have him nagging at him. When he arrived to Vil’s side, the model quickly gave him several bags for him to carry.

“Take these and the ones in the front.”

Leona raised an eyebrow, but went to the front of the car to pick the other bags. “As his majesty commands.” Vil only rolled his eyes so Leona continued. “What’s the occasion? What do you need all these…” He stopped when he saw Vil getting a big cake out of the car.

“Can you handle all of those without dropping anything? I don't want them to break.” Vil closed the door with his foot. “Ah, didn’t I tell you? It’s Epel’s birthday.”

They walked to the house together carrying all the stuff Vil had brought.

“Did you arrange a party here? What are all these things?”

Leona didn’t know about the birthday celebration, but it all made sense now. Still, he thought it was weird for someone like Vil to have a party in Ruggie’s house out of all places. The house was too small, not even him who spent most of his time in that place ever thought about having a party for Jack over there, so to think someone like Vil would do it was crazy. Being honest, he’d never made a proper party for Jack. The kid had one when he turned one and they still lived at the palace, but after they moved on their own, he never though about having parties at all. It was too much effort and very little reward. And Jack never asked for one, so he never understood the big deal about them. He dreaded the thought about having to deal with several kids right now.

Vil sighed. “No, it’s just us. I couldn’t do anything else for him this year because I’ve been so busy, so Rook told me to just bring a cake and his presents here and we’d just celebrate. I’m glad Jack is here too.”

Leona knew that his chance to escape was null now, but at least he was glad no more brats were coming.

“Are all these bags presents for him?”

“Well, they are– ah there you go again, judging me for what I do for Epel. Don’t you ever get tired?”

“So they are all presents.”

“Just shut up and open the door, bring back the gentleman from the other day.”

Leona grinned and opened the door, going inside before him. Once inside, Ruggie helped them set the cake on the table alongside the many presents Vil had brought too. Both Leona and Ruggie were astonished by the amount.

When they finished setting the things and fixing the decorations, Ruggie went to call the kids. “Mon amo– ah Rook, kids, come here.”

When Ruggie turned around, both parents had an amused smile on their faces. They both agreed that the nicknames they gave each other were ridiculous, but preferred to not mention it much, instead they just laughed to themselves.

* * *

“Papa, you’re here! Finally!”

Epel came running to Vil, who knelt down and hugged him.

“I couldn’t make it on time, I’m sorry. But I brought you–”

“Apple pie?!” Epel excitedly asked as he squirmed out from Vil’s embrace.

“No, I told you that was for breakfast. I brought you a different cake for tonight, but only after dinner.” Vil pointed towards the big cake on the table. It had three tiers, each a different shade of purple with golden motifs and macarons and sugar flowers all over it.

Epel’s eyes shined. “Did Trey make this too?”

“What? No! I made it myself, same as your apple pie from this morning. Trey didn't make anything this time.” Vil scowled. He hadn't stayed baking until midnight for his work to be minimized.

“When? You never have time for anything.” Epel said still staring at the cake.

“I made time for it, now let’s– no, don’t touch it yet, I said it’s for after dinner. Stand over there so I can take a picture.”

Unwillingly Epel stood behind the table and over a chair while Vil took photos of him. Even though he hated posing for pictures, Epel was quite photogenic and Vil had taught him how to look even better.

“Dad, we didn’t bring a gift for Epel.” Jack pulled on Leona’s arm, drawing attention to himself.

“I didn’t know it was his birthday. We’ll get him something later.” Leona said, then raised his voice. “Happy birthday Epel.”

“Thank you!” Epel giggled, ‘ruining’ the current picture his dad was taking.

“Don’t move!” Vil yelled. "These won't look good otherwise."

Vil wanted perfect pictures to save on his albums like he did every year, and also to send to his dad. Pouting, Epel went back to posing for his dad. He didn’t like it, but he knew if he complained it’d be worse. Fortunately it didn’t take too long to end.

“Papa, can I open my gifts now?” Once Vil told him it was enough, Epel asked him.

Vil was looking at his phone, not paying attention to what Epel was saying.

“Papa!”

“Vil, is everything alright?” Rook asked, noticing Vil's annoyed face and the fact that he was ignoring his kid.

“What? Ah, sorry, it’s Adela. We still had to go through some details, but it’s fine.” Vil said and put his phone in his pocket. “No Epel, dinner first.”

Epel pouted. “I want my presents first.”

Vil brought his hand to his temple. “You already opened many gifts from what I am seeing, you can wait until after dinner. Now tell me, what did you get from your friends?”

Epel’s demeanour changed suddenly. “Look, Deuce and Ace and Riddle gave me this!” He ran towards the living room and brought back his cellphone, showing them a new case. It was a teal case with water and glitter inside. “Riddle said Cater chose it.”

“Yeah, I can imagine that. What else you got from them?”

“A flower from Deuce!” He giggled.

“Great.” Vil muttered and forced a smile. The kid had taken a likening to Epel –and he really couldn’t blame him, Epel was a wonderful albeit unruly kid– but that was exactly why Vil didn’t like it, they were kids and he wanted his son to worry about more important things, not about crushes. Trey and Cater weren’t too worried about it because ‘ _they’re just kids, it’s just cute and they’ll forget about it soon,’_ but deep inside Vil knew that they were encouraging their son. “Only that?”

Epel thought for a few seconds before replying. “Two things that Trey said I couldn’t open without you. And an apple tart! It was so good, right Jack?”

Jack nodded.

“Did you already eat it? I though you wanted cake?” Vil asked while he looked at his phone again.

“We ate it at school. I gave a piece to Jack and to Deuce and Ace and Riddle and Silver.”

“I see.” He wasn’t paying attention. “And the other gifts?”

“I couldn’t open them because you weren’t here.” Epel pouted.

“Okay.”

“One is a lamp, it projects pictures on the wall but it’s fragile that’s why Trey said not to open it at school.” Rook explained. “And the other one... it’s a slime kit.”

“A what?” Vil put his phone down. “That’s just asking for a mess, why would he give Epel such thing?”

Rook closed his eyes. “I told him what you said about educational gifs, so he thought it was a good thing to do science. It’s educational too.”

Vil rolled his eyes. “That’s so like him. Alright, that can stay at your place. What did Lilia give you?”

“Are you really going to judge everything he got?” Leona asked unamusedly still looking at the like of gifs he’d brought. "I'm glad I didn't bring him anything, then."

“I’m not judging, I just want to see if the presents are proper for his age. Normally I ask them to tell me beforehand, but this time I couldn’t.” He turned to his kid. “So, Lilia and Silver.”

“Lilia sent me cookies and a singing machine.” Epel said. “Jack and I played with it the whole day!”

“You didn’t eat the cookies, right?” Vil asked. He knew very well how Lilia’s cooking always turned up and he didn't need a sick child right now.

Epel shook his head. “Silver told me not to. He said the singing machine was from Sebek and his dad too.”

Vil made a face, slightly disgusted by the kid’s words.

Noticing his discomfort, Rook quickly spoke.“I checked that all the presents were fine and safe, so let’s not worry about that. Why don’t we have dinner? Ruggie made Epel’s favorite dish like you asked him to!”

Vil felt relieved that his friend quickly changed the subject, but it was short lived as he became stressed again as his phone kept getting texts.

* * *

The four adults and two kids sat at the table where Rook had set a grill and several pieces of meat and vegetables for them to eat.

“Is this your favourite food?” Leona asked Epel when he saw him serving himself several pieces of meat that Rook was grilling. The sight of the tiny kid piling up a lot of meat on his plate was not something he expected.

“Yes! Grilled meat! I love it! But dad doesn’t let me eat it because he hates it.” He pouted. His cute face made him look more inconvenienced than angry.

Leona smiled. “Jack's favorite food is meat too.”

“It's not my favourite food, dad.” Jack replied, munching on food.

“What? Yes it is, you love meat.”

“I like meat, but it’s not my favourite.”

“Since when?” Leona was flabbergasted by the kid’s words. They were carnivores, all their lives they’ve eaten meat. “Whatever, you still like meat.”

“Kids change their minds so often about what they like. One day they like birds and the other rabbits, their minds are so volatile.” Rook said. “For now, you should try more vegetables, little apple, maybe you’ll like them this time.”

Epel made a disgusted face and ignored the man. Leona laughed silently and turned to see the kid’s dad to see his reaction, however the model was still texting with an annoyed expression on his face. Leona noticed his plate was empty.

“You’re not eating? Sure you hate the food but you can’t starve.”

Vil stopped texting to turn at him. “No, I– I don’t hate this food, what makes you say that? But no, I’m not eating tonight, I’m on a diet, thanks.”

“A diet of not eating anything? Are you crazy?”

“I’m not starving myself, I’m simply following a very strict diet because my show is in two days, I can’t gain or lose any weight or it’ll mess up everything. I ate before I came here so that’s enough.”

Leona rested his head on his hand and stared at Vil. “You seem in a worse mood that usual. Is it because you’re hungry?”

“Shut up. What do you even know about my eating habits?”

“Actually nothing, every time I’ve seen someone offer you food you don’t accept, so as fas as I know you eat air.”

A small, not-too-surprising argument began between the two while the other four people continued eating in an awkward silence. It didn’t last long as Vil had to leave for a moment to answer a call.

“Forgive him, Leona, he’s quite stressed these days.” Rook spoke as soon as Vil left.

“He doesn’t seem much different than usual though.”

“He’s not.” Epel muttered softly.

“Oh non, he definitely is. The next event is quite important for his career, so he’s really looking forward to make the best out of it.”

“You got an important date too, you know. But you don’t seem concerned at all, wouldn’t it be good if you worried a bit more?” Ruggie asked with a mouth full of meat.

Leona grunted. Would anything change if he worried? Of course not, it never did. He was a great athlete and most people knew, but he’d lost several finals, so at this point he knew not to worry or even feel excited about them. It was just another game after all. “I don’t care, I trust my skills.”

Vil returned the next moment and saw his kid’s plate. “Epel, that’s a lot of meat that you won’t finish, you’re just wasting it. And eat vegetables, you can’t live with just proteins. Rook, don’t just give him meat, give him broccoli and greens and carrots too, but not too many carrots, that’s a lot of carbs there.” He then looked at Leona’s. “You too, why aren’t you eating vegetables?”

“Oh, excuse me mother. Anything else I should be doing?” Leona asked, bringing a piece of meat to his mouth.

“You’re setting a bad example by not eating them, as a pro athlete you should know how important nutrition is.”

“At least I am eating.”

Ruggie and Rook looked at each other. They were used to their fights and normally didn’t mind them, they knew that was the type of relationship they had; but both felt it wasn’t proper during a celebration party.

“Epel, why don’t you tell your papa what Rook and I gave you?” Ruggie spoke loudly, breaking up the argument between the other two.

The kid’s face lit up, but before he could start telling his dad about them Vil interrupted him. “The science kit, an animal book and a camera?”

Epel pouted. He was so happy to tell him about the gifts, but now he felt discouraged. “And a disk to play.”

“A disk?” Vil raised an eyebrow. “Please don’t say a Magift disk.”

Rook made a dramatic, distressed face. “Oui, but before you get mad–”

“Rook, we agreed on the other three gifts and that was all. Why did you give him such a dangerous thing?”

“Vil, it’s nothing bad, it’s great for him to exercise! And we were always with him, so he wasn’t hurt at all.”

“He exercises at home. He doesn’t need that thing, it’s dangerous and unnecessary and I don’t want him to turn into a savage, so keep that thing to yourself.”

Leona scoffed. He couldn’t believe the guy. It was one thing he didn’t like the sport, but to speak about it in such a vile and uneducated manner was too much.

“What does your kid does at home? Yoga?”

Epel nodded and muttered a small, sad ‘ _yes_.’

“Exercise that’s appropriate for his age. And don’t interfere, this doesn’t concern you.”

“Mr. Vil, we can’t use magic, so we just played with it like a normal disk. We don’t even know how to play Magift.” Jack, who had been quite silent all this time, spoke with his always stern tone.

Vil hesitated before speaking. Leona had noticed that while Vil was always strict with his son, he was never mean to Jack; in fact he seemed like another person when he spoke to him, always kind and even lovely. It wasn’t a lie to say that it scared him how fast he could change his demeanour.

“Did your father never teach you how to play?” His voice was sweet but a bit strained. “That’s a surprise.”

Jack shook his head. “He never plays at home.”

“Well, that’s good, isn’t it? It’s better to keep those games for when you’re older and can decide for yourself if you want to hurt yourself. I’m sure there are other fun games he can teach you.”

“He’s always sleeping when he’s home. He doesn’t play with me.” Jack truthfully said and Ruggie laughed quietly.

Leona rolled his eyes. It was true he didn’t play much with the kid, but Jack had enough toys and games to keep himself entertained. He also spent a lot of time with Ruggie and from time to time with his cousin, so it wasn’t like he was always alone. Lately spending time with Epel made him happy too, so he didn’t see how it was an issue. He always came back from work tired anyway.

Vil smiled and then turned to Rook. “I don’t want that thing in my house either, keep it here or in your house. Don’t use magic and don’t teach them how to play.”

They continued eating, speaking about other things while Rook and Ruggie tried to maintain the peace between the other two. Leona seemed in a bad mood, but mostly kept to himself. Vil kept texting on the phone, going to answer calls from time to time. Later they ate some of the cake Vil had brought.

Leona wasn’t too keen on sweets but he had to admit it was good. _‘I guess he’s not just a pretty face. He can make good food too.’_

Both Epel and Jack got seconds, but when Epel wanted a third piece, Vil stopped him. 'Too much sugar, too many calories, too much fat.’ He had said. And when he wouldn’t change his mind, Epel got angry. Leona didn’t see the problem in letting the kids eat more cake, why’d he make such a big cake if it wasn’t for them? It wasn't as if he was eating it himself.

In the end they moved to the presents so Epel could forget about the cake. Even though he’d already opened other gifts from other people, he still had such a big mountain that all came from Vil and apparently Epel’s grandfather too. Leona didn’t understand why he had to give him so many presents. He never denied Jack anything he wanted, but he felt this was an exaggeration.

“Papa, which ones are from grandpapa?”

Still texting, Vil answered. “Why do you want to know? They’re all for you anyway.”

“Because I want to know!”

By now he had already opened many of them, from picture books, notebooks, art utensils, toys and dolls, clothes, shoes, accessories. Now he was opening some bigger boxes.

Vil grunted. “ Some clothes and accessories, and the picture books.”

“Did he choose the stuff himself?”

“Hmm.”

“Papa!”

Vil exhaled loudly and looked up from his phone. “No, he gave me the money to buy them for you.”

Epel pouted again, but seeing as his dad was not paying attention anymore, he continued opening the current present which was a kit to make a terrarium. His eyes gleamed when he saw it. “Papa, can we put insects in this one?”

At the same time Epel asked, Vil got a call. “No, it’s for plants, not insects. Give me a minute, keep opening your presents.” He stood up and went to the kitchen to take the call, leaving the others there.

Epel dropped the present box to the floor and stood up from the couch.

“Little apple, why–”

“He's not paying attention!” Epel said as tears started to overflow from his eyes. “He said he’d be here. And grandpapa too.”

Rook tried to grab Epel, but he moved away quickly. “Little apple, your grandpapa is working, you know that. He tried to come but it’s difficult–”

“Papa too! They don’t care about me.” Whimpering, he ran towards the dinning room. Rook followed him promptly.

Leona and Ruggie sighed, but didn’t say anything. In a way, they could understand what the kid meant, but at the same time, Jack was usually so quiet and well behaved that they hadn’t had a similar issue before. Not to say it was the kid’s fault, of course.

They could see Rook trying to talk to Epel, who was stealing and eating macarons from the cake while he continued crying. Leona didn’t like to deal with crying kids, so he stood up and went to the kitchen to grab a beer.

As soon as he entered the kitchen, he heard Vil’s hushed voice.

“That’s not what he had agreed on.”

His voice was angry and emotional, he was trying to whisper but Leona could hear it pretty clearly. Vil was looking away at the wall, so Leona continued to the fridge.

“Adela, stop. I’m already answering you when I said I wasn’t going to take your calls tonight. It’s Epel’s birthday and I’m barely spending time with him. He’s not happy about it.”

_‘At least he realizes.’_ Leona thought to himself as he got a beer out of the fridge.

“Yes, but I’m always– it’s the first year I couldn’t spend the day with him and–” He gave a deep breath and raised his voice. “Adela. I chose to have Epel knowing quite well the limitations I was going to have. But it’s the same for you, you decided to stay with me knowing it beforehand. I told you the day I came back to work that my priority was always going to be Epel, and you agreed. You stayed. Barely anybody did, but you did. So I’m telling you this only one more time. It’s my son’s birthday and I’m going to spend the rest of the day with him. We can talk about the runway tomorrow. Unless you don’t want to and prefer to quit, that’s fine for me.”

To say that Leona was surprised was an understatement. Up to this point he thought Vil only cared about his job. True, he met him only weeks ago, but he was always too focused on his work that he never saw the possibility of him caring for his son so much. Then he remembered the conversation they had days ago in his car; Vil said that he’d stopped getting jobs after Epel was born, and that it was Vargas who helped him get back on track. He said his line of work was not nice to single parents. Leona didn’t think too much about it at first, he’d never had that issue even if he was a single father himself too. Coaches and athletes didn’t care much about families; if you had one, great; if you didn’t, great too. They only cared that you played well and didn’t slack. Nobody batted an eye when Jack was born. But he had to admit he felt a bit sympathetic towards him; raising a kid alone was difficult, no matter how much help he got from Ruggie or his brother, it never got easier. It seemed like Vil felt the same too.

He returned to the living room with Jack and Ruggie who sat uncomfortably in silence. Epel seemed to have stopped crying but he was still talking to Rook at the dinning table.

Minutes later Vil came back, unaware of what had happened. He grabbed the discarded present and placed it on the couch. Looking around, he asked. “Where is Epel?”

“With Rook in the living room. He got a bit angry.” Ruggie replied.

Even though he didn’t explained, Vil seemed to understand what had happened because he sighed tiredly and used his hands to cover his face.

Leona sighed. He knew he didn’t have to do this, he was getting into issues that were not his own, but for some reason he couldn't stop himself. “Hey, Vil. Did you give a thought about what Ruggie proposed before? About taking the kid to the game.”

Vil raised his face and scowled. “Yes, and it’s still a no. I’m not letting him go to such a place.”

Leona sighed again. Maybe it was more difficult that he thought. “Could you reconsider? Jack and I didn’t brought a present, so I thought that taking him would be a nice gift for him.”

Jack perked up.

“You don’t have to give him anything, it’s fine.”

“Look, it’s not just about that. I know you’re stressed about your job and Epel is dealing with the consequences. Just look at him, he ran away crying because you wouldn’t pay attention to him. Is that how you wanted him to spend his birthday?”

Ruggie coughed softly, he knew Leona was always blunt, but he wasn’t expecting him to talk to Vil like that. Leona also knew he was being too direct, but he didn't want to sugarcoat his words, it wasn't necessary. 

Vil bit his lip. “And what do you propose I do? To let him go so he can forgive me?”

“I don’t care about that, but I’m sure he’ll enjoy it. And you can worry less about him during your... show thing.”

“How could I worry less? I told you, I don’t like the environment of those places.”

“He’ll be with Jack, and Ruggie will watch them. After the game we’ll bring them here. He’ll be fine.”

“Yeah, you don’t have to worry about that. I’ve taken Jack to the coliseum many times and it’s always safe. Leona gets tickets for box seats so we don’t go with the general public too much.” Ruggie explained.

“I never leave Ruggie’s side and if you let Epel go, I won’t leave his side either.” Jack added.

“Alright, let me– let me think for a minute.”

* * *

He definitely didn’t want Epel to go. He didn’t have many good memories about Magift stadiums, so he’d been avoiding them for a long time; but he knew they were right. He had no reason to mistrust Ruggie, and he knew Epel would love it, it’d make it up for the disaster that was today.

While he was rearranging his ideas, Epel came back holding Rook on one hand and a macaron on the other.

“Are you done, papa?” He inquired softly, but he could notice the sadness in his voice and the dried up tears on his cheeks.

“Yeah, all done, don’t worry– what are you eating? I told you– no.” He shook his head. “It’s fine, go ahead.”

Epel went to sit back on the couch where his unopened presents where, but Vil stopped him and brought him to his lap. “Epel, do you remember when we talked about Leona’s game? He’s playing the finals in two days.” Epel nodded. “Would you like to go?”

Epel’s eyes widened and he nodded effusively, not saying a single word.

“Leona and Jack said they’ll give you a ticket as a birthday gift. Ruggie would be taking Jack and you, and you'll see Leona play, and then you'll all come here where I'll pick you up after my show. How does that sound?”

“Really?! Can I go?”

“If you want to, yes, you can go.”

“Yes papa! I want to go!” Epel jumped up on Vil’s lap. His energetic movements made him headbutt his father.

“Careful.” Vil swallowed his annoyance and grabbed Epel to place him on the floor. “Thank them for your gift.”

Epel ran towards Leona and hugged his arm, saying ‘thank you’ many times, who in turn only petted his head awkwardly. Then he went to Ruggie who hugged him back, and finally to Jack who smiled a bit but looked away when he was hugged.

“Why don’t you and Jack open the remaining gifts?” Vil said and both kids sat on the floor to do as he said.

He was still unsure about the decision he’d taken, but seeing Epel so happy brought him back when he was younger. He used to be more smiley and happy before, but nowadays he always seemed sad or angry.

“Vil! That’s such a marvellous idea! I’m glad you changed your mind!” Rook exclaimed when the kids were busy.

Vil rubbed his 'injured' jaw. “I’m not sure it was a good idea, but I guess I can’t change my mind now.”

“It’ll be fine, don’t you worry.” Ruggie said. “I’ve been talking care of kids for a long time.”

“Speaking of that, Ruggie. There’s something I’ve been meaning to discuss with you.” Vil turned to look at him. Ruggie perked up, unaware of what he was going to say. “I’ve been leaving Epel here without caring about what you think. I guess it’s not really my fault though, Rook is always here nowadays and I usually left Epel with him, but I think it’s not fair for you.”

“I don’t mind, it’s not out of my way because I already look after Jack.”

“Right, but I still want to give you a gratification. Pay you, like I paid you today to have everything ready.”

Ruggie grinned and shrugged. “Well, I won’t say no to that if you want to do it.”

“That would mean it’ll be like a job. I’m willing to pay you hourly for the amount of times he’s here, plus extra if it’s necessary, like in case I need you to pick him up or during emergencies. Of course, I know you have other jobs, so I’ll be considerate of your schedule, which is why I think an hourly wage would be better. I’ll pay you at the end of the week, if that’s okay with you? Unless you want me to pay you daily.” Vil spoke in a very businesslike manner. He’d already spoken with Rook about this, but he felt it was better if he told it to Ruggie himself. He was a bit worried since Epel had never had a babysitter, and he hadn’t known Ruggie for a long time, but he felt this was the best course of action. Rook was almost always here, so he’d have someone he fully trusted too. Ruggie needed money and Vil knew he couldn’t afford to watch his kid for free. And, Epel really liked it there.

“Yeah, weekly works for me.”

“Leona, how much do you pay him?” Vil asked him, taking him by surprise with the question.

Leona raised an eyebrow. “Hmm?”

“You pay him, right? You’re not just dumping your responsibilities on him, _right_?”

“Of course I pay him, who do you think I am?” Leona grunted. “I just have no idea how much, the accountant takes care of that.”

Vil lamented himself. “That’s so much like you, of course you wouldn’t know.”

Ruggie snickered. “He pays me 1500 madolls per hour.”

“I paid you 2000 madolls for today.” Vil fell silent for a few minutes while he thought about something. “Lately I’ve been leaving him here more often than not, but my schedule changes often so there will be weeks when he’ll have to come more. Let’s say in average he’ll come four days a week, and he’s staying here for an average of 5 hours. So 20 hours. Are you okay with 2000 hourly, with an added of 500 for weekends and especial cases? That’ll give you around 40,000 madoll weekly. Of course, according to my schedule, I’ll be telling you when I need you to watch him, so you can calculate the amount in advance.”

Ruggie’s mouth hanged open a little bit, it took him a few seconds to speak again. “Sure! That sounds good.”

“I’ll start with Friday then, I won’t be able to even pick up Epel because the preparations start since morning. I think I should be finishing by 9:30 or 10 at night. The show ends at 9 but I have to stay. So from 2 to 10 should be...”

“No, it’s okay.” Ruggie made a gesture with his hands. “It’s Epel’s birthday gift, so it’s on us. You don’t have to pay me this time, we can start next week.”

Vil hesitated. “Are you sure? It’s going to be a long day and I’ll have you feed him. Rook will be at the venue too, so you’ll have to deal with him alone.”

“I told you, I still have to take Jack. Leona will pay me so don’t worry.”

Vil smiled. “Thank you, Ruggie. That’s a really nice thing you’re doing for Epel. Rook is lucky.”

Ruggie turned a shade of red and looked away, scratching his neck. Rook came to his side and began a speech on how he really was lucky for such an amazing boyfriend. Vil sighed softly knowing that his friend wouldn’t stop for a while. He was used to his words, but he felt just a little bit jealous. They’ve been dating for only a month, yet they looked so happy.

He noticed that Leona was downing the beer and ignoring the lovebirds too, so he approached him quietly.

“Is it really okay for you? You’ll be tired after the game, right? And don’t you usually go celebrating after games?”

“You’re assuming we’re gonna win.”

Vil rolled his eyes. “Well, shouldn’t you too? But anyway, I know people go drinking wether they do well or not.”

Leona sighed and sat straight on the couch. “It’s okay, I never stay after games. I like to come straight home, maybe only have dinner on the way. Jack likes being with Epel so he’ll keep himself busy too and leave me alone.”

“That really sounds like you.” Vil shifted on his seat. “Epel enjoys playing with Jack too, lately it’s the only thing he speaks about.”

It really wasn’t a lie. Epel was shy but he still had some friends, namely Deuce and Ace. Deuce who most likely had a crush on him and Ace who liked to tease him. There were Riddle and Silver too, but they were a year older and according to Epel, Silver slept all the time and Riddle was a bit scary, so they didn’t play much together. Then there was Sebek too, but he was too young and Epel only saw him when he went to Lilia’s house, fortunately for Vil. Jack was a bit different from all of them, he didn’t treated Epel different nor teased him, so –even if he had a difficult father– Vil was happy that they got along.

* * *

Leona grunted. Jack never spoke too much about school or his friends, so he wasn’t sure if that was the only thing Jack cared for at the moment, but Leona did notice that Jack looked happier when he played with the kid.

He noticed Vil kept shifting on his seat. He was about to ask him if there was something wrong with sitting next to him when the model spoke.

“Thank you.” Vil pressed his lips together before continuing. “For offering to take Epel. I’ve been having a hard time balancing my work and him lately, and I guess I really haven’t been paying attention to him. I keep saying that after this show I’ll have time, but,” he sighed, “it’s been like this for a while. I tell myself that after a job I will, but then I get another job, and then another, and it just never ends. Obviously I’m grateful I’m working, but Epel should come first. So, thank you for the offer. He really looked happy.”

Leona felt a bit uncomfortable by the honesty in his words, but he could understand him. He didn’t spend much time with his son himself, not because he didn’t want to, he simply didn’t; though Jack never complained about it.

“Who’d say you look this cute saying thanks? Maybe you should do it more often.” Leona teased. It was his way of dealing with uncomfortable situations.

Vil furrowed his brow, but before he could articulate a reply, the kids approached with some gifts in their hands.

“Papa! Why a sewing kit?” Epel pouted.

Vil’s expression changed from a scowl to a grin. “You keep tearing your clothes apart, so I figured you may as well learn how to fix your own clothes. It’s safe for kids your age, so it should be easy.”

“You know it’s easier to fix those things with magic, right?” Leona asked.

“He still doesn’t know how to use magic, and won’t for a while. And I’d prefer if he doesn’t learn to only rely on magic to do his chores, it’s better to learn everything from scratch.”

“Trés bien! Of course, you’d say something like that!” Rook and Ruggie had stopped their conversation already, so they slipped themselves into the conversation. “Vil’s magic is exceptional but he doesn’t use it unless it’s necessary! It’s so odd to find mages who still do everything by their own hands, ahh but isn’t it _magnifique_?”

“There’s nothing wrong with that. Using magic for everything feels like a cheap exit, it’s better to show that you can work hard. And normally I do a better job by my own hands.” Vil defended himself.

Ruggie snickered. “That’s the opposite of Leona, he can’t do anything without magic. Cooking, laundry, anything.”

“Hey, I didn’t perfect my magic to not use it in my everyday life. Magic is there to make life easier.”

“Of course you’d say something like that.”

The mood shifted from how it had been previously. They argued for a while, not in their usual fighting tone but in a more teasing, playful way. Having spend more time together had made them learn about each other’s personalities, finally begging to understand each other.

“Ruggie, do you mind if I leave some toys here so the kids can play?” Vil asked when he was gathering the things he was going to take home.

“Sure, that’d be great.” Ruggie said. “I’ll keep them in the storage room when they’re not here.”

Vil picked a few things and put them in the coffee table. “The baking set, science kit, slime maker, these two picture books and these crayons, these animal toys, and of course the Magift disk. I think that should be good for them.”

“Isn’t just what you don’t want to keep home?” Leona asked looking at the boxes.

Vil rolled his eyes. “Those are the games that they can play together, it’s better than playing alone.”

“I’m sure making slime is easy enough for one person to do, right?”

Vil gave him an annoyed look. “Stop that, these will stay here. Ah, I should leave some clothes too for Friday. Rook, I’ll need you to bring some of the clothes I left in your house the other day too.”

While the two men spoke and kept choosing what to leave, Leona approached Ruggie.

“Aren’t you being too nice? What’s with you? Trying to please Vil so much.”

Nobody could deny Ruggie was a good guy, but he did almost everything for his own gain. He’d never offer to do things without getting paid first, so seeing him doing things for Vil unpromptedly was strange. Of course the man was going to pay him later, but Ruggie hated dealing with the uncertainty about if he was going to get money or not. Leona had a feeling he knew why, though.

“Shut up.” Ruggie scowled. “It’s not like that. It’s another job.”

Leona grinned. “I guess impressing your boyfriend’s best friend is important for you.”

“Hey now, don’t get jealous. I told you, it’s simply another job.”

Leona grunted. Who was talking about jealousy? He didn’t care if he wanted to impress Vil or not. Why would he be jealous of that? He was simply surprised. “I’ll speak with the accountant so we’ll both pay you the same.”

Ruggie laughed. “So it was jealousy after all.”

Ignoring the small misunderstanding from Ruggie's words, Leona rolled his eyes. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading as always!


	5. Chapter 5

“Jack, Epel, don’t run too far, Leona will be back soon.”

Ruggie called out to the kids who were excitedly running around playing in the grass behind the stands.

“But he won! Won’t he celebrate with his friends? Papa always stays after his shows to celebrate.”

The game Vil agreed for Epel to come to had finished around 15 minutes before. After having lost several finals, Leona’s team won for the first time, so there was a celebratory uproar at the stadium. Ruggie took the kids away while they waited for Leona in order to avoid the crowds.

He snickered. “Leona never likes to stay around after games, he just wants to go back home.”

“But he won, he never stays because he loses.” Jack added.

“Don’t say that as if he always loses, he’s in the finals because he wins many games.” Ruggie said while he ruffled Jack’s hair.

Jack shrugged. “He loses a lot too and then gets mad, maybe he’ll be happy today.”

“Hey, don't say that. Huh,” Ruggie suddenly noticed something was amiss, “where is Epel?”

He looked around in frenzy, realizing that the boy was nowhere to be seen. He panicked slightly; they made sure to let Vil knew he’d be completely safe so he’d agree to let him come, he didn’t want to ruin it here, especially now that he was going to start getting paid. Fortunately, he didn’t have to look too far, as Jack pointed towards some people who were gathered a few meters away from them.

* * *

“Lilia! You’re here too?” Epel excitedly said while he ran towards a man.

“Oh my, Epel, is that you? Where is Vil? Isn’t he working tonight?” The man named Lilia turned around when he heard the voice of the kid. He was carrying a sleeping child in his arms.

“Yep! Ruggie brought me for my birthday.” Epel said and then pointed towards the kid. “Is Silver sleeping?”

Lilia nodded. “Just like every time I bring him, he didn’t even get to see half of the game. So, for your birthday, huh? It’s strange for Vil to give you permission, I thought he disliked when you watched sports.”

“He did! We all had to beg though.”

Lilia laughed. “And who is this Ruggie guy you speak of?” He gasped dramatically. “Is he perhaps Vil’s boyfriend? You two haven’t visited me lately, is that the reason why?”

Epel giggled. “No way. He’s Rook’s boyfriend. I spend all day in his house now.”

“Rook’s boyfriend?” Lilia was surprised, but he smiled nonetheless. “I was joking, I didn’t expect that reply. So, you came with Rook’s boyfriend, and where is he right now?”

Epel pondered for a few seconds. “With Jack I guess, we’re waiting for his dad.”

“Is Jack one of your friends?” Lilia asked the kid, who nodded in reply. “I don’t think you should be alone so let’s go look for them, shall we? I, myself, am looking for Malleus too.”

However before they could even take a step, Ruggie came running with Jack by his side.

“Epel, there you are! I told you not to run too far.” He said in a slightly angry tone while he tried to catch his breath.

Epel looked down bashfully. “I’m sorry, please don’t tell papa. I just wanted to say hi to Lilia.”

“Lilia?”

Lilia waved with one hand. “Hello, you must be Rook’s boyfriend right? Epel was telling me about you.”

Ruggie finally noticed the shorter man. His first thought was that he looked like a teenager. “Ruggie Bucchie. So, you’re Lilia?”

“Indeed, and this is Silver, my son. I’ve been friends with Vil and Rook for ages, I used to watch Epel a lot before you.” He said with a smile on his face. “But, alas it seems like I’ve been substituted as a babysitter.”

Epel giggled. “Papa said it’s because you live too far, and it’s okay because I can play with Jack.”

Ruggie scratched the back of his head. “He mentioned you a few times, but I didn’t know you were his babysitter before.”

“Nah, don’t worry. I wasn't, I just like kids a lot. I’m glad Vil finally found someone who he can trust, I bet you can’t even imagine how picky Vil always was with babysitters. I’m happy for Rook too, hopefully he’ll stop tormenting people.”

“Well, he’s just my problem now.” Ruggie snickered. “It was nice meeting you, but we have to go, Leona must be waiting for us.”

“Leona... Leona Kingscholar? The player?” Lilia gasped.

“He’s my dad.” Jack replied curtly. He was still holding Ruggie’s hand.

Lilia looked at him and smiled. “So, you must be Jack, right? I didn’t know that man had a kid, but I guess I understand why your papa let you come to the game now. Are they friends too?”

Epel sighed and shook his head. “Papa always argues with Leona. He says only his face is good. But Leona is amazing!”

“Dad says Mr. Vil is pretty but annoying, but I like him, he’s organized unlike dad.” Jack said with a frown, looking at Epel.

“But papa is boring.” Epel pouted.

The kids started to argue about which dad was best while Lilia and Ruggie looked at them amusedly. “That’s impressive, I didn’t imagine Vil could get along with someone like him.”

“ _‘Getting along’_ is a strong word. The tension is overwhelming when they’re together.” Ruggie snickered.

Lilia hummed. "Really? That's interesting, but knowing Vil I can believe it. It's good he met him then."

"I guess you're right, I feel the same about Leona. Even with their constant arguing, it's–"

“Hey, look! Epel is there!”

Suddenly three kids slightly older than Epel and Jack arrived to their side.

“Why is a girl like you here? Girls are not allowed!” One of the kids mocked Epel, much to the surprise of the others. “Didn’t your mom tell you that?”

A different kid shoved Epel. “Are you going to cry?”

Surprisingly Epel didn’t retaliate; he pouted and looked like he was about to cry, but remained silent. Jack, however, didn’t stand idly by.

“Leave Epel alone.” Jack yelled at the kids while he pushed one of them. “He can be here if he wants to!”

Jack was about to push another kid when Ruggie stopped him. “That’s enough, Jack. And you three, leave him alone.”

“My, my, what a group of naughty kids.” Lilia said, smirking at them. “Do you need to be punished or should I just call your parents?”

“You’re just kids too, don’t act all adult!” One of the kids said to them, mistaking them for teens.

“I guess it’s punishment then.” Lilia sighed and with his free hand took his magical pen from his pocket. “Who wants to go first?”

The kids stared at him in surprise; only adults were allowed to use magical pens, so when the kids understood what was going on, they ran away.

“My, I can’t believe they still think I’m a kid after all this time.” Lilia sighed while he put his pen away. “It’s probably because I’m still so cute. I guess it’s the same for you, you look young too.”

Ruggie shrugged. “It doesn’t happen often. Epel, are you okay?”

“Did they hurt you?” Jack grabbed Epel by his shoulders and asked.

Epel trembled slightly, but instead of crying, he puffed out his cheeks. “I hate them! I want to punch them.”

Lilia laughed. “I’m surprised Epel, why didn’t you hit them yourself? You’re always the first to act.”

“Papa told me to behave and not pick fights or he wouldn’t let me play with Jack again.” He looked down angrily.

“It’s okay, we made a deal. I’ll defend him because dad doesn’t care if I pick fights.” Jack added. “I told Mr. Vil I’ll help Epel too.”

Ruggie laughed. The kid had always had a strong sense of justice and was quick to act, so it was true that Leona didn't mind if he came to blows with other kids. “Jack, really... Well, we have to go now or Leona will be mad. Nice meeting you, Lilia.”

“The pleasure is all mine.” Lilia waved. “Come visit us some time, Silver is going to be so happy. And say hi to Vil and Rook for me!”

Ruggie grabbed both kids by their hands and dragged them to where they had agreed on meeting Leona. He was already there and was slightly angry for having to wait, but when he saw how happy the kids were and how much they were congratulating him, he let go of his anger. Jack never said much after games, usually he had to ask him many questions to even know if he had enjoyed it, so he was glad he was doing it on his own.

* * *

At Ruggie’s home, Epel kept asking Leona questions about the game; it was clear he liked the sport but didn’t know much about it. Leona explained in a way he could understand, while also telling him how he had done things that day. He found out he didn’t mind explaining everything to the kid, it was nice to have someone interested.

“What are you watching, Jack?” Ruggie walked up to the kid who was sitting on the couch, motionlessly staring at the TV.

“It’s Mr. Vil.” He pointed towards the TV. “They’re interviewing him.”

The two adults looked at the TV where, just like Jack had said, Vil was talking to another person. He properly answered questions with a charming smile that Leona had never seen. He was clad in very fancy outfit with hair and makeup done in an elaborate way; he looked quite beautiful in Leona’s opinion, but between the fake smile and all the makeup, he felt he was looking at someone else.

“He’s always the last, then he’ll change and then the show starts, and then they’ll interview him again.” Epel didn’t even look at the TV. “It’s always the same.”

“I didn’t know it was televised.” Ruggie said and the turned to the kids. “Do you want to watch it?”

Epel grimaced. “No, it’s boring.”

Jack nodded “I’ve never watched his shows, so I want to.”

“Don’t worry, they’re all boring.” Epel replied and tried to get Jack out of the couch to go play with him.

“We already watched dad today, we have to watch your dad too.” Jack said and stopped Epel.

The kid pouted and sat down next to him realizing he wasn’t going to be able to play with Jack for now. “I’m going to fall asleep because it’s boring.”

“Isn’t your bed time now? It’s already 8.” Leona said looking at his clock. “Maybe we should go, I’m tired.”

“Dad. I want to watch the show.” Jack raised his voice. “It’s Friday, we can stay longer here.”

Leona was astonished, Jack had never raised his voice at him or defied his orders in his whole life. He knew he should be firm and not let the kid do anything he wanted –he didn’t want to spoil him– but Jack never seemed to want anything for him, he always said yes and agreed to anything Leona said, it would feel bad to deny one of the things he had asked for. And it would be a lie to say he wasn’t a bit curious about Vil’s work.

His concentration was interrupted when he heard the interviewer ask certain question to the model.

_“And what can you tell us about your private life? You’ve always been too secretive about it, I’m sure your fans want to know.”_

Leona noticed how Vil’s expression changed from the fake smile to a slight uncomfortable one.

_“Well, what can I tell you? My private life is my son, he’s the light of my life and I work hard solely to give him a good life.”_

Epel shrugged and looked away.

_“Is he here with you? You always speak of him but never show us his face, are you an overprotective dad?”_

Vil laughed _. “He’s not with me tonight, he’s with a friend. These type of shows are difficult for a 4 year old kid, so I’ll rather have him stay home. It's the best for him.”_

This time, Leona laughed at the falseness of his words.

_“Four years, huh? It’s been a while. Have you been single all this time?”_

“ _Yes, it's been only Epel and me all these years.”_

_“That’s unbelievable, you’re such a good looking man. Wouldn’t you happen to have a secret partner you don’t want to talk about?”_

_“Oh, it’s nothing like that, I’m simply focusing on–”_

_“You’ve kept relationships secret in the past, haven’t you? Like when you dated the now ex-Magift player, the–”_

_“Yes, but that was long ago. I was young and I thought hiding it was for the best, I was afraid of backlash. Of course, if I were to have a relationship now I wouldn’t hide it.”_

Leona raised an eyebrow. _‘Dating a Magift player?’_

_“It was such a revelation when it came to light, everybody was talking about you two. You were such a nice couple, it was a shame you two broke up. What was the reason? You never spoke about it.”_

_“We simply were going towards different paths and wanted different things. It was a mutual agreement.”_

_“Are you still in contact with him?”_

_“No, I’m not. Like I said, that was long ago, we both moved on.”_ Vil definitely looked uncomfortable by the questions, but he tried his best to keep on smiling.

_“Probably for the best, right? He retired and married, didn’t he?”_

_“Yes, as far as I know he’s still happily married.”_

_“I’m sure your time will come too, all of your fans must be dying to see you getting married, just imagine how gorgeous you’d look. Designers would fight over who’d get to make your outfit.”_

Vil laughed and turned to conversation into something about designers, ending the awkwardness from moments before.

It suddenly made sense why he had such an aversion towards the sport: He dated some player and then they broke up; even though he made it seem like it wasn’t a big deal, he could imagine he had been hurt back then. In his opinion it was dumb to hate a sport for such reasons, but he didn’t know what happened exactly, so he couldn’t judge him.

The interview ended moments later and after a commercial break the show started. Leona had never had an interest in fashion or anything related, so he didn’t know what to expect from it, but he couldn’t deny that he was captivated. Several models walked in the runway wearing different outfits, yet it was only Vil who stood out each time. He had to admit he was really good at what he did. He didn’t realize for how long his eyes had been glued to the TV until he heard Ruggie’s phone go off. He saw the two kids staring straight at the TV too, mesmerized by what they were looking.

The show didn’t last more than 30 minutes. He couldn’t believe it was so short considering how much Vil had been obsessing over it, but by seeing the perfection and quality of everything, he understood why.

“Did you like the show?” Ruggie asked the kids, though Leona had the feeling it was directed at him.

Jack nodded. “Mr. Vil looked really good.”

Epel shrugged. “It was okay, it looks different than watching it behind the curtain.”

It was obvious the kid wasn’t being sincere, but Leona couldn’t blame him. Even he would have a hard time accepting it out loud.

“Rook told me they are coming now, he is just waiting for Vil to finish some things.” Ruggie said. “You should tell him how much you liked it when he arrives.”

Again, Leona felt his words were directed at him.

* * *

“Vil, Vil...”

Vil heard his name being called but was too tired to open his eyes.

“We’re here, wake up.”

He realized it was Rook who called out to him. He slowly opened his eyes and found himself in Rook’s jeep, remembering he was done with his show and they were on their way to pick up Epel.

“Let's go. Should I carry you?” Rook opened the door on Vil’s side.

“Don’t be ridiculous, I can walk by myself.”

His feet and back hurt and he couldn’t keep his eyes open too long, but he staggered towards the house anyway. He had always been good dealing with the strain of his job, but once he was done with one he always felt all the pressure and stress left his body at once, and thus, incredibly tired; so as soon as he walked inside he went to sit down, not even bothering greeting the others.

“Bonsoir, mon amour. We're finally here.” Rook walked to his boyfriend and kissed him passionately while he held him by his waist.

Vil looked away and noticed the man next to him doing the same. He wanted to laugh and say something, but he was too tired to joke.

“Papa!” Epel and Jack approached him moments later. He hadn’t even noticed they were there too.

“Why are you awake?” Vil mustered the strength to sit back up. He wasn’t mad, he actually expected him to still be awake, but he tried to sound firm. “It’s almost 10.”

“We watched your show and were waiting for you.” Jack said. “You looked really good.”

Vil smiled slightly. “Did you? I’m glad you liked it. How was the game?” He brushed Jack’s hair absented-mindlessly.

“Leona won! It was fun too.” Epel said with a smile. He then stopped before reluctantly hugging his dad. “Thank you for letting me go, papa.”

Vil was surprised by the sudden affection from his kid; he had never been the type to do that unprompted –especially to him– so it took him a few seconds to return the embrace. “You should be thanking Leona, it was his idea, and also Ruggie for taking you.”

Epel giggled, letting go of Vil. He then took a step sideways and hugged Leona, much to the surprise of the lion. “Thank you, Leona.” He let go of him as quickly as he hugged him.

“It’s nothing. I’m glad you had fun.” He said and tussled the kid’s hair, making him laugh again.

Vil smiled and turned to the man. “Congratulations on your victory, I'm happy your hard work paid off.”

It probably was the exhaustion, but he felt genuinely happy for him. He liked to see people succeeding, after all.

Leona was probably as astonished as him by his words, because he hesitated before speaking. “Thanks, your show was good too.”

Vil raised his eyebrows. “You watched it too? I’m surprised, I didn’t think you’d be interested.”

* * *

Leona rolled his eyes but didn’t feel like arguing with the man right then; for some reason the atmosphere was peaceful, something that didn’t happen often.

“Papa, I saw Lilia at the game! You said he couldn’t take me!” Epel spoke to his father.

“He didn’t tell me he was going, he just said he was going to be busy.” Vil said and then scowled. “Was he alone?”

“Nope, he was with Silver.” The kid replied.

“Just with him? Wasn’t...? I mean, nobody else?”

Epel thought for a few second. “Only him. He said hi.”

Leona remembered the uncomfortable expression he had when he was being interviewed and realized he was doing the same right now; then he wasn’t mistaken, he had had a bad experience with some player. He wasn’t one to gossip nor he cared about knowing people’s private lives, yet he was slightly curious about it. In any case, he knew it wasn’t the time to ask.

He looked ahead and saw Rook and Ruggie in a tight embrace while they talked about something, they both looked happy and slightly embarrassed. He on the other hand was uncomfortable.

“I think we should go home now.” Leona said and turned to see Vil and the kids. Vil was staring at the couple with the same uncomfortable expression as him.

“I hate to ask this, especially since it’s too late, but can you give us a ride? Rook was taking me home, but...” he pointed towards them with his eyes. “I don’t wanna interrupt.”

* * *

For some strange reason the peaceful mood continued on their way home, however Vil wasn’t going to complain; he was tired and just wanted to go to rest. When they arrived to Vil’s house they noticed both kids were asleep already, so Leona offered to take Epel inside.

“Are you sure? It’s safe here but I don’t want you to leave Jack alone in the car.” Vil said while Leona carried Epel out of the car.

“It’s fine. You can’t even walk, I wouldn’t trust you to carry the kid on your own. And I won’t take long there. Unless you’re inviting me for something else.” Leona joked. “That won’t be quick then.”

Vil took a few seconds to understand the innuendo but instead of getting mad at the crudeness, he scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Right, right, I’m sure it won’t.” He walked towards the house. “I’ve been busy so the house is a mess.”

“Hey, I was joking, I’m really just taking him inside, I won’t stay.” Leona walked behind him.

“I know that, but still. I hate it when the house is not clean.” Vil said and unlocked the door. “So, just ignore it for today.”

Once they walked inside, Leona stood in the entrance looking at the living room and corridor. There were a couple of toys on the floor and some papers on a coffee table, yet everything else looked almost impeccable, no stains, no damaged furniture, no clothes on the floor. “How is this a mess?”

“Hey, I told you to ignore it, don’t stare.” Vil scowled.

“You should see my house, this is in no way a mess.”

“In that case, I prefer not to. I’ll have to use this weekend to clean everything.” Vil sighed. “Come upstairs.”

“I told you it was a joke, but if you insist...” Leona joked again, but followed Vil upstairs nonetheless.

He turned around and made a face. “Stop that, that’s where our rooms are.”

“Yeah, I’d hope you bring me to a room, your couch doesn’t seem comfortable.”

“Oh my god, can you stop? You may find yourself in an unfortunate situation one day if you continue.” He curled his lips . “And the couch is quite comfortable, I’ve tried it a few times.”

“That was more than I wanted to know, but good for you.”

“To sleep! I’ve slept there a few times. Really, you’re so...” Maybe it was the exhaustion, he repeated to himself, but he didn’t dislike the current atmosphere. He opened the door to a room and turned on the lights. “Just put him on the bed over there.”

Leona placed the sleeping kid over the tidily made bed and then looked around.

“Epel sleeps here? Doesn’t look like a kid’s room.”

“Of course it’s not his, it’s mine.” Vil replied and when he felt the stare from the other man, he continued. “He likes to sleep with me. Even if he goes to sleep on his own bed, more often than not he’ll wake up here, so it’s fine.”

“Isn’t he a bit too old to be doing this? I don’t remember the last time Jack slept with me.” Leona said and kept looking around the room. 

Vil knew he was right, he had been told before but it was difficult to let go. “Maybe, but... I don’t think it’s too bad.”

* * *

Leona raised an eyebrow. “I was sure you were going to get mad at me for judging your parenting skills.” It wasn’t like Leona did it with that intention, but every time he said anything similar Vil seemed to take offence.

“Do you want me to?” Vil looked too tired to even feign annoyance. “Whatever, I know it’s true, but I really don’t mind it. He barely wants to spend time with me during the day, but he's okay with being with me at night, so I enjoy it too. It’s been like this for four years, I guess we’re just used to it.”

“Four years huh? That’s right, I heard you’ve been single for four years.” Leona said without any malicious intent in his words, he was simply remembering the interview from before.

“You watched the interview too?” Vil sighed. “Can you believe it? I specifically asked not be be asked any private question, yet hey had a whole section for it.”

“Why did you even reply? You seemed uncomfortable.”

“That’s not good, I was hoping it wasn’t too noticeable.” He sighed again. “Well, whatever, I hope they won’t focus much into it. Anyway, I’ll walk you to the door, you shouldn’t let Jack alone any longer.”

When Leona was about to leave, Vil stopped him.

“Thank you for taking Epel to the game today. I’m still not too keen on him watching the games, but I guess it wasn’t that bad, he was genuinely happy. It’s been a while since I saw that smile on him.” Vil looked down and smiled.

Leona noticed his smile was different from the fake one he wore during the interview; it definitely looked better on him. “Don’t mention it, Jack was happy too.” Leona said, and then asked without hesitation. “Will you go to Ruggie’s house tomorrow too?”

He was surprised by his own question. Next day it was Saturday, so he really had no reason to go, and it wasn’t like he wanted to keep seeing him everyday, so he wasn’t sure why he did it.

“Tomorrow? Ah.” Vil looked as surprised by the question as himself. “I have to clean the house, but huh probably.” He stammered his words slightly. “I have to write some articles about the show, it could help if someone were to watch Epel while I do it.”

“I have some things to do, so I’ll bring Jack too. See you tomorrow then.”

That’s right, he was asking because their kids got along. Jack really seemed a different kid since he became friends with Epel, he was more talkative and expressive, it was a good change. If he had to deal with this annoying guy for his son to be happy, then he had no other choice but do it for his sake. That was it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
